The Thunder Bay H istorical

Society

EIGHTH ANNUAL

REPORT

Papers of 1917

C111)» Gibunhvr 715 5111 fiiztnriral énriptg

(fiftiwrz 19 1 5 - 17

Honorary Patron Sir 660 . E. Foster

Presiden t Mr. P. McKellar, F . G. S.

l st Vice -Presiden t Mr. A. L. Rdsse li

Secretary-Treasu rer M iss M . J .

_

L. Black

f ra ming Olhmmittvp

Miss Dob ie Dr E. B. Oliv er

Mrs. Jrio . King M r. F_

C Perry

Auhitnm

Mrs. Geo. A.Graham Mrs. F. C . Perry

PRES IDENT OF THE HISTOR IC AL SOC IETY

‘

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL S OC IETY 5

President’s AddressMR . PETER M cK E LLAR

F ort William,Nov . 27th ,

1917 .

Ii’el low Members :I am sorry

’

to have to record that

this is our fourth annual meetingunder the great World War,

'

an d that

the black war clouds show n o signs

of breaking .

T h e entry into the conflict‘

of our

cousins to the south of us w ill nodoubt sw ing t h e balance in ou r, favor .

While the pressure from this sourcemay n ot be particularly noticeable

for some t im e ,

~ t h ere is n o question

that ou r mutual enemy w il l eventually be overcome by the banding to

gether of those nations of the worldbelieving in democracy an d t h e right

of the common peop le to rule their

own dest inies .

I s inc erely hope that before our

next annual meeting the c onflict w illbe ov er, but in t h e meantime we mustcarry on an d do ou r utmost to u p

hold the principle s for which we havealready spent so much in i l iv es and

.

money .

Ou r H i storical Society h as madesatisfactory progress during the yearclosed . We are reducing our debts

by degrees as will be seen by ou r

S ecretary’

s sp lendid report , and thefuture looks bright for the S ociety .

My best thanks are due t h e members of t h e S ociety for standing by

yieldthe good cause , which “w illabundant fruit in

“good t ime .

PE TE R M C KE LLAR .

MR S .

‘M . J L . BLAC KtS ecret ary -Treasurer

THUNDER BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY 7

Secretary-Treasurer’

s ReportMISS M . J . L . BLAC K

F ort William , Nov . 3oth ,1 91 7 .

To th e President and Members of theThunder Bay H i storical S oc iety .

Ladies an d Gentlemen :I have the honor to present the follow ing report as secretary-treasurer ofour S ociety .

During the year s ix meetings havebeen held , t h e dates being as follows :Nov . 28 , 1916—Annual meeting .

Feb . 1 5 , 1 91 7 , a very enjoyable meeting was held at the home of Mr . an d

Mrs . H . Sellers , when Dr . Oliver reada paper which had been written byMrs . Oliver an d Mrs . M cK el lar, on the“early schools of the Tw in C itie s . Thiswas fol lowed by a paper by Mrs .

Sherk ,describing her own experiences

in teach ing in Fort William .

On April 27 , a meeting was held atth e home of Dr . an d Mrs . Oliver , an d

on May - 2 5 th we m et at Mrs . G . A .

Graham ’s, when a paper was given b y '

Mr . H . S ellers .

“

S ep t . 29 the societym et for busines s in the Publ ic Library ,and on October 26t h we met at thehome of our President , an d listenedto excerpts from an old pamphlet describing Port Arthur , in 1 883 . Thiswas provided b y Miss Dobie , w h o hadprocured the booklet from Mi s s Margaret C ross . The reading was givenby Mrs . S herk .

We have a p aid up membership of .

21, an d usually have n early

‘

ou r entirenumber at all of our meetings .

While nothing of outstanding im

portance has occurred during t h e

year , it i s very gratifying to b e ableto report that the interes t in the workhas been maintained , in sp ite '

of themany other engrossing subjects . Thisis largely ow ing to the great devotionand en ergy of our President , and tohim we cannot b e too grateful .

Financially , w e are in very goodcondition , and h ave reduced our in

d eb ted n ess on the tablet by $ 37 5 .00

during t h e year .

_

In presenting the financial s tatement

, you w ill notice that it covers

from Oct . 1 to Oct . 1 , in order t o con

form to the Government ’s desire . Iwill , however , give an addendumwhich w ill bring it up to date .

RE C E IPTS

0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0

o o o o o o o o o o o o oo o ooo o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

S ept . 30, 1 916—Bal . in bankOct . 1 5—Donation from D . McKellar for copyright

Oc t . 1 5—Donation from C apt .M cC an n el l

Oct . 27—Sa‘

le of p ictures (Mrs .

King )Fells , (Miss Shepperd Mrs .

Williamson )Nov . 2—Government grantNov . 27—Donation (H . S ellers )Nov . 28—Mem bership fees (Mr .

an d Mrs . M cK el lar, Mr . an d

Mrs . F .

“C . Perry, two years ;

Mr . an d Mrs . Graham , MissDobie , D . M cK el lar

'

Dr . an d

Mrs . Ol iverSale of p ictures (Miss Dobie )

Dec . 9 -Donation (Jas . Murphy )Feb . 5 , 1 91 7—Donation (Jos .

Dyke )Feb . 8—On e unm ounted cu t

(sold to Mr . Smith )Feb . 1 6—Membership f ees (Mrs .

Patterson , Mrs . Burke )Mem bership fees (A . J . Ogilvie )Membership fees (Dr . andMrs . S trachan )

March 1 5 —C ity of Fort WilliamgrantMembership fee (Mrs ; C row )

S ept . 1 5—D0n at ion (Women ’

s

C anadian C lub )Donation (J . J . Flanagan )Mem bership fee (Mrs . M oE d

ward )

EXPE NDITURE S

Oct . 1 5 , 1 916—C opyright

Oct . 3 1—T‘

ablet (Mrs . Gladstone )

Nov . 3—Printing and cuts

(Times-Journal )Dec . 4—Tablet (Mrs . Gladstone ) .

s THUN DE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY

Feb . 8, 1 91 7—Tablet (Mrs .Gladstone )

Teb . 20 —Plates and printing(Tim esJ ou rn al )Tablet photographs (A . J .

Fryer)A‘pril 1 5—Tablet (Mrs . Gladstone )

April 28 —Mem bership to H is

toric Lan d sm ark AssociationPrinting Annual s (TimesJournal )

Sept . 21—‘Tablet (Mrs . Glad

stone )Sept . 30 Printing Annuals

(Balance of Times—Journalaccount )

Sept . 30—Bal . in bank

M . J . L . BLAC K,

S ecretary-Treasurer .

Audited an d found correct .

S ince then , we have received in feesfrom the M isses '

L iv in g s ton e an d

a cheque from the Government forso our balance tonight , Nov .

30th , 1 91 7 , i s there havingbeen no expenditures .All of which i s respect-fully subm itted .

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IETY

H istoric . Lan dm ark Ab outto Vanish

Mu ch Of th e Old H istory of F ort William C en ters Arou n d

th e McK ellar Hom estead ; w h ich Was Bu ilt F ifty Years Ago,an d Was th e Home of F ort William ’

s F irst Mayor, an d th e

Social C en ter of th e Se t tlem en t for M an y Years .

F rom t h e Daily T im es-Journ al , Jan u ary 2 6, 1 9 1 8The sale of the old M cK el lar h ome ,

"which was put through last Mondayby G . R . Duncan , recalled th e ol d

days, an d in order to get some of th e

details pertaining to its construction

authoritatively ,the Tim eqou rn al

locked up P eter M cK el lar, w h o i s

one of the family that built an d oc

C u pied the house , wh ich has beenbought by George A Graham , to be

1m0ved frOm its present si te . Mr . McK ellar related the follow ing historyof the house .

Early His t oryI came here w ith fath er, Du n

can M cK el lar, an d brother J oh n , fromthe Onton

’

agon copper country in

1 863 although ou r hom e h ad been in

M iddlesex county , On tario, before wewent to the copper country . Afterwe were here for fi v e years the othermembers of the family came , an d mybrother

,the late John M cK el lar, and

brothers , had the Old house built in1 868 , just fifty years

‘

ag o. I couldn ot say h Ow much it '

cos t to bu 11d=

as

work Was done ‘ diff er

ently from wh at it is nowadays . Themain part '

of th e house is about ,23x42

feet , an d Was Originally b uilt of hewedlogs , tamarac an d spruce

, t h e timbersbeing about six by t en inches. Thereare nine rooms in the house,

and itis two stories high w ith ‘ a "sol idstone foundation . The Only

‘

finishon the interior originally was plasterover the logs . This was later im

proved by being lathed and plastered on the inside and sided w ith boards

”

on the outside . S everal years laterthere was a frame addition built t oit on th e southwest Side,

wh ich wasused as an office .

F ores t at Un ion DepotTh e logs for t h e construction of

the hou se were t aken from th e fi n e

forest that grew back where the

union station an d Syndicate avenuen ow are , extending back t o the Neebing R iver . T h e strip along the Kamin ist iqu ia R iver had been a clearancemade by the

.

fur trading companiesperhaps 1 5 0Or 200 years ag o, on whatis n ow a part of t h e site of east FortWilliam . This forest of tamarac an d

spruce had grown up into great talltrees

,all as straight as it i s possible

for trees to grow , an d so dense thatthe su n could scarcely shed its raysinto the m idst of it . There was only

, on e team of oxen in th e country thenan d they were used to haul t h e trees

.to_

th e required place . The work wasdone by the Indians , an d t h e housewas a good warm on e too.

F ew W h it e PeopleThere were only a few fam il ies of

white people here in 1 863 .

“They were

wC ap t . R obert M cVicar an d family , Govern or John M cIn tyre an d ourselves .

These early settlers es tablished areputation for themselves of being

_real hosts

,as every stranger wh o

foam e v to this part of the country waslooked up by taem an d made to feelat hem e w ith l t h is early colony of

white settlers .“The Hudson Bay company had.

a

small d Ock, about 100 feet long, 1

front of the fort , but only small vessels of les s than five feet draft , couldget in here as there was a sand barat th e m ou th of t h e K am in ist iqu iariver . In 1 868 t h e first dock . that

Was ever built at the head of Lake

Superior was constructed . I t was sith ated ab out on e-quarter of a mile east“Of C urrent R iver an d was of crib con :

struction . It was built by the Thunder Bay S ilver Mining company. It’slength was 1 80

_,feet and all the early

boats called at the m ining dock . At

that time there were only three or

four“real buildings in Fort William ,

10 THUNDER BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IETY

besides the fort an d ,m is sion . b u ild in g s ,

an d none in the P rince Arthur Landin g town p lot in 1 863 .

Real M in in g Beg u n

In 1 868 real“m in in g

“was '

com

m en ced ,when the Thunder Bay an d ,

S h u n iah silver m ines were operated With a force of

i

7 5‘

or more men .

It was this year ,“t oo, .that the real

building of the present Port Arthurwas begun .

‘

I t w as started by’

JamesDickson and James Flaherty , who arrived w ith suppl ie s on the steamerAlgoma . The former opened a g en

eral . store under t h e management of

Thomas Marks , an d th e lat ter starteda restaurant . These

_were needed tosupp ly the demands of t h e s ilver m inin g industry, which was increasing b yfurther discoverie s , such as the S ilverHarbor, th e 3A

‘mine’

s and others . Manyare under th e impression that t h e

Daw son Road works caused the startOf the boom at Port Arthur, but therewas lit tle or noth ing doing on th eDawson R oad until 1 869 , when preparation was made for CO1. Wolseley

’s ex

ped it ion . S even miles of wagon roadwere bui lt ou t from Port Arthur in theSummer of 1 867 , an d the work wasstopped . I traveled on sn ow shoestw ice over the Old trail an d

_ theS even Mile R oad from D og Lake toPrince A rthur

‘ Land ing the w interfollow ing th e b uilding of the newroad . These are facts confirmed b ywritten st atements .

S t ory of t h e O ld Hom est ead

Th e ol d M cK el lark

h om estead wasoccup ied c on tinuously by the familyuntil the

.property was sold to the

Grand Trunk -Pacifi c railway companyin 1 908 , which road . later becameknown as the C anadian Governmentrailway

,and which company gave

orders to have the hou se removed re

cen t ly . The house of late years had‘

becom e badly delap idated as far as

vandals were able to do it harm ,bu t

the general structure‘

remains in agood state of preservat ion .

”

T h e McK e l lar F am ilyBesides the parents , Duncan M c

Kellar and Margaret Brodie , his w ife ,there w ere nine members of the ,

M c e

Kellar family . In -order they were ,beginning w ith the

,eldest : Jo

'

hn ,Susan , Mary, Peter , E ff ie , . Donald ,Archie

,Katie

~an d Margaret . Mr . and

Mrs .

‘

M cK el lar, senior , lived ,

in FortWilliam for some time . Th e father

died here in 1 87 5 , at the ag e of 68

year s . The mother died in 1 890 atthe age of 7 7 years . Those of thefamily still living are : '

Susan,the

w idow of - t h e .

,

late Archie McLaren ;Mary , Peter, Donald , Katie , the w ifeof F . C . Perry ; an d Margaret, w idowof th e late E dward Deacon . Mrs .

Deacon had three children , two sonsan d on e daughter . Of these the dau ghter is married to Dr . C . E . Spence ;on e b oy , D onald , was killed in thegreat war in 1 916, and the other Son ,

E dward , i s return ed ” wounded andunfit for further mil itary service .

F irst Mayor of F ort Wi ll iamOf t h e deceased members of the

family the best known was possiblyth e late John M cK el lar, w h o was the

'

fi rst m ayor of Fort William,and

served six years in that capacity . H e

was highly esteemed as a citizen Of

Fort William .

The passing of the old house whichMr . Graham , the purchaser, says mustbe torn dOWn , has a particular interest for the real ol d timers of FortWilliam an d Port Arthur . There aremany people still living at the headof t h e

'

lakes who recall the p leasantp ioneer days , an d review the -occurrenees of those days w ith '

a -r g reat

deal of satisfaction . E verybody knew

everybody el Se, and there seemed tobe one Spot on earth where thebrotherhood of m an existed in reality .

NOTE .

C aptain Duncan M cK el lar, fatherof Peter and Don M cK el lar, two of

Fort William ’s most respected p ioneerresidents, was the holder of two com

mi s sions i

in the C anadian m ilitiawhich are still extant an d in fairlygood state of preservation considering their age . C ap tain M cK el lar Ob

tain ed his comm is sion as such in the1 2t h battalion of the Middlesex mil it ia in 1 83 7 , and was w ith the ac tiveforces in command of a company atWindsor during th e rebell ion of 1 83 7

38 . He continued as an ofi icer for

twenty y ears . Both his commissionsbear th e s ignatu re and t h e seal of

office of James , E arl of E lgin and Kincardine

,

“governor-general of Briti sh

North America and cap tain-generaland governor-in -chief in and over th e

provinces of C anada , Nova S cotia ,New Brun sw ick an d the islan d of

Prince E dward , and vice adm iral ofthe sam e.

MR S . P . McK E LL_AR

MR S . E . B . OLIVE R

THUNDER BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY 1 3

Head of the Lakes

FORT WILLIAMThe earliest date at which we are

able to show anything in the way of

an endeavor to make the young ideashoot is the year 1 860, whenMiss Victoria M cVicar, daughter of

C aptain R . M cVicar, postm aster . at

Fort William , was '

acting as tutoressto the children of the Hudson

’

s BayC ompany ’s officers located at FortWilliam . Later, in 1 862-63 , M liss Brenn an of Ottawa, sister-in -law of JohnR . Mcv ica

‘

r, land agent at Fort William

,taught . The school room was a

small frame building of dimensions1 2 by 1 5 feet , w ith wooden seats an d

benches , located ou'

the ground of

One of Fort William ’

s Elev en Sch ool Bu ild ing s

the Hudson’s Bay C ompany .

'

The com

pany owned t h e building an d had itfitted up as a school room .

_The

pup ils, as b efore , were the children of

the Hudson’

s Bay C ompany’

s officers .

’

Miss Brenn an lived w ith her sister oppos ite the Mission an d walked b ack

and forth the on e an d on e-quartermiles daily. from her hom e to theschool . Th e pup il s were about tenin number .

In_the year 1 870R ev . Mr. M cF arlan d

taught for the Hudson’s Bay C om

pany an d on the Sabbath conductedpublic worship .

SHUN IAHIn th e year 1 873 , the m unic ipality

of Sh un iah was organized, of whi ch

-Fort Will iam and Port Art hur (then

Prince Arthur’

s Landing ) , were parts .

Previous to the organization of themunicipality a private school hadbeen opened in Prince Arthur’s Landin g , taught by Miss Alice Warner,daughter of E benezer Warner . Thissch ool Miss Warner conducted at herown residence located on S outh

'

Water S treet near the corner of PearlS treet . S h e had about eighteenpup il s .

After the municipality of Sh u n iahh ad been organized , on e of the firstacts of the councillors was the authorizat ion of the

'

establishment of

three school sections in the municipality , the b y -law for this purpose being

number five in the transactions of themunicipality. These school sectionswere defined as fo llow s :

_

No / 1 .

“The village of Prince Ar

‘ thur’s Landing .

No . 2 .

—All that portion of theTownship of Neeb in g lying east of lot1 2 including the reserve in front ofsaid Township of Neeb in g .

No . 3 .

—The Ward of Thunder C ape .

In each of these sections three trustees were to be elected . Th e firstelection was held on S eptember l st ,1 873 . For section on e , th e follow ingwere elected : Messrs . Jas . H . Woodside

,John Park an d W . C . Dobie . The

last named served continuously as

trustee until h e resigned thirt y yearslater. We are

“indebted to Mr . Dobie

1 4 THUNDER BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY

for m uch information given in thispaper . We are unable to fi n d w h o

were elect-cd trustees for sections twoan d three .

The organiza tion o f the municipality an d the election of -trustees gavethe school work an impetus . Th e pop

ulat ion was increasing an d the scholars . must be cared for . The trusteesof

,section on e

_ ren ted a . little_ house

on Park S treet an d engaged Mis‘

s War

n er, wh o it' w ill be remembered

taught h er own private schoo l_until

that time . Th e school opened w ithabout twenty-fi v e pup ils on the roll .The salary p f t h e t eacher was aboutth ree h undred d ollars . A

‘

secondschool was op ened in section on e u p

stairs ;over a blacksmith shop in th e

government reserve near th e c ornerof C umberland and Van NormanS treets . The number of pup il s was

Th e C olleg iat e , Port Art h u r

Later, in 1 874 ,"bylaw number five

was amended by adding the Townshipof M cIn t yre to section

“on e . St ill

later t h e'

original bylaw w as againamended (bylaw number 22 ) ch angingthe n ame“of school section numbertwo to section on e of Fort Wi ll iamin the Municipality o f Sh u n iah .

EAST FORT WILLIAM

Th e organizing of the municipalityfoun d the trust ees at Fort William ,

m is sion .

see the value of her work for in 1 879

h er salary was Sh e was givena government grant that year -of

as shown by th e M cK el lar ao

count book .

wn zs'r FORT WILLIAM

In the year 1 870 the Daughters

of . Mary” opened a s ch ool for Indian

children an d others at‘

F ort WilliamT h e work was contin ued

under these ausp ices until 1 88 5 . S is

house , which was a frame buildingerected in 1 873 of a size 16 by 22 feet

,

located on Mcv icar S treet where theGordon Ironside and Fares warehousen ow stands . T h e b uilding was fullyequipped w ith seats an d tb en

i ‘

ch es . It.was used for church service on Su n

days . A Mi ss Groom was the firstteacher Miss Groom ’

s fame wasab road in t h e village as

_

editor of thefamous P

'

erambulator”a hand-print

ed newspaper, which was , we believe ,t h e first to be. pub lished at ThunderBay . Later Mliss Alice Warn er succeed ed Miss Groom as teacher, andstill later Mis s Kinsey taught .In 1 878 Miss Kate M cK el lar (n ow

M rs . F . C . Perry ) ou r highly esteem edfellow m ember of this society , tookover the dutie s as school teacher int h e original school . H er salary wasthe prin-cely '

sum of Thetrustees

,however

,were not slow to

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY 1 5

way was granted the land . A comp lete history of the Mission schoolhas been furnished this society in theexcellent paper by Miss R-obin

,so

more w ill n ot b e said regarding thisbranch of the work .

A second school was Opened in the

present site next door to the Bap tistC hurch where it is still doing dutyas a private residence . The teachersof the n ew school were Mr . E . P .

Lan gri l l , principal , an d Mrs . Woodgate who had taught in the basementsch ooL

section at West F ort William in S eptember, 1 87 5 . Miss Delphine Fregeauwas the teacher . Sh e had abouttwenty-fi v e pup ils . Mr . Fred Fregeauwas janitor at a salary of permonth .

FORT WILLIAM

SHUN IAH

At the present time we are unableto get data regard in g the school dev elopm en t of t h e third school sectionviz : Thunder C ape . S oon after . theorganization of t h e municipality of

Sh un iah the Thunder - C ape Wardw ithdrew from Sh u n iah municipalityand formed a separate organizationfor school purpos es .

E AST FORT WILLIAM

PORT ARTHUR

In sec tion on e at Prince Arthur ’sLanding in 1 874 the trustees decidedto make a change an d they rentedthe basement of the Me thodistC hurch , corner Of Waverly an d Al

goma S treets . The pup ils were mov edfrom both “the schools aforementioned .

The first teacher here was Mrs . Thos .

Woodgate , S enior, mother of TrusteeW-ood gate .

Within the year,so fast Was the

popu lation growing, the trustees decided they

_needed a real school buildin g . A sit e of two acres had beengranted

'

by the Provincial Government where the C entral S chool standstoday . A deputat ion went to the council and after much persua sion succeed ed in obtaining a -

~grant of“to build a school . The contract wasat once let to Mr . Neil

_

S . S haw .) T h e

School , built on‘

the present site of

th e C entral S chool , had t wo - largeroom s , on e above and on e below . Th e

upper r-oom was reached b y a cover-edstairway at the '

rear o f the b ui lding .

M r. W. C . Dobie had the pleasure of

handing C ont ractor Niel the check forthe contrac

'

t price , receiving inreturn the key of the building .

"Thisb uild ing was comp leted in“1 87 5 . Itwas moved about th e year 1 900 to its

PORT ARTHUR

R eturning to section on e , Port Ar

thur, w e fin d

'

t h ey also had been makin g progress . About the year 1 884 afront addition of brick veneer wasa dded to the two-room s chool af ore

In 1 881 Fort William ceased to bepart of the Municipality of S h u n iahan d became part of the Municipalityof Neeb in g . The teachers kep t changin g . Miss M c C al lum , who , we understand , i s still teaching in British C ol

umbia, taught for some time . Mr . W .

M cLean taught for a'

n um b er of yearsat the West E n d S chool . Later Mr .

J . F. C ullen taught in the E ast E n d

S chool

In 1 887 a fi n e t wo storey schoolhouse 24

‘

by feet was erected onLot

‘

7 , the corner of Victoria Avenue

an d S imp son S treet, w here the R ossBlock n ow stands . Th e lower floorwas comp leted w ith seats an d benchesfor a school room , an d the upperroom comp leted and seated for churchpurposes

,open to all denomination s .

Mr ; John R itchie was principal an d

is still active in educational w ork ,being a s chool inspector for P ort Arthur District . Two years later thisland was sold to W . J . R oss an d thebuilding was moved to site on NorthMay S treet near Myle s S treet whereit was still used as a school . Laterthe building was sold to Mr . L . L .

Pe'

ltier'

w h o m oved it to'

the lot im

mediately south of the post officewhere it still s tands . From the proceed s of the sale of Lot 7 schoolproperty , the site of t h e presentC entral S chool , bounded by North

Syndicate , Myles , North May andLeith S treets , was purchased fromM cK el lar brothers in March , 1 894 . Abrick school building costing about

was erected on this site int h e same year .

16 .THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

mentioned giving a total of six rooms .

Mr . L an gril l was still principal . MissC hristie and Miss

‘

Bowerman “wereothers

‘

w h o'

taught . The salary ofthe principal was about $ 5 00, of th e

other teachers about $3 5 0. About theyear 1 900 the original building wasmoved and another addition of eightrooms built making a total of twelverooms . Mr . A. W . Wright succeededMr . Lan gril l as principal . ’

He taughtabout three years an d was followedby Mr . Armst rong an d later b y Mr .

B . E . C oleman . There were aboutfour hundred scholars in the twel v erooms .

E AST FORT WILLIAM. M r. P . J . Pilkey was the first prin

cipal of t h e n ew C entral S chool atFort William

,holding the . position

until 1 901 when he became principalof the H igh S chool . H e was followedby Miss S park , Mr . Geo . Bloomfield ,Mr .

"S . C . Woodworth Mr. W . W .

S outhon ,"

Mr . J . Un d erh 1 ll and Mr .

’

A .

E . S outhon . A supervisor of education was app ointe d in 1 908 , Mr . S . C .

Woodworth being the first appointee .

Following him were Mr . E . E . Wodd

an d Mr . W. W . S outhon .

Mr. C has . Beyer became janitor ofth e Ann S tree t S chool , West Fort

“,

an d t h e down toiv n school in 1 888 .

H e retired from the position of janitor of the C entral S chool in 1 909 . He

i s still engaged by the board of education as school gardener .

WES T F OB-T WILL IAMIn 1 894 M r. - W . Wn B rid gm an b e

cam e principal of th e West E n d

S chool and taught until 1 905 ; Amongthose who taught under Mr. Bridgmanwere Miss Louisa Fregeau , Miss Graham and Miss Lottie M cDougal l , n ow

w ife of Dr . M . B . Dean .

The H igh S chool had its beginning

in the continuation classes whichwere held in the M cK el lar brothers

’

building on May S treet (the ol d public

,

sch-ool building ) , commencing in1 899 . . Messrs . J . J . Taylor and S . W .

Mathews were engaged ‘

as teachers .

In 1 900 the town council obt ain ed perm ission from the legislature to holdhigh s chool sessions in the publicschool building an d th e continuationclasses became high ’

school classes .

The high school board was form edin and was made up as follow s :C hairman , Dr. T. S . T . .Smellie ; Vice

C hairman , John King ; C . L . Hallett,

J . M cL-aren, Wm . Newcombe,D . Mc

Gi l l iv ray an d W . H . Whalen, an d S .

C . Young , secretary-treasurer .In 1 901 the high school classeswere moved from C entral S chool toOgden School which had been builtin 1 899 . Mr . Pilkey followed Mr .

Taylor in 1 901 as principal an d Mr .Mathews was succeeded by Mr . E . E .

Wood in 1 902 . e . A . J_. Ogilvie

,the

present s pecialist in modem s . an d

/history, taught on e year at this sch ool .Mr . C olhoun , n ow city librarian at C algary, Alta . , was also on the staff . TheH igh S chool was moved t o the presentbuilding on C atherine S treet in 1 907 ,an d later became a C ollegiate Institute . Mr . Wood accep ted the posi tionof public school supervisor in 1 9 10 butreturned to the princip'alship of t h eC ollegiate Institute in

‘

1 91 2 . WhenM r. Wood left the school in 1 910, Mr.

W. J . Hamilton was appointed principal . Mr . H amilton accepted theposition of inspector of public schoolsfor the district in 1 91 2 .

WE ST FORT WILLIAMIn 1 903 the sch ool board authorizedthe purchase o f a site for a largerschool in the west end and in 1 904

bought t h e present site on F rancis

S treet. for They then asked

t h e council for an d built afour-room school . This school

'

_ wasopened in 1 905 w ith Mr . -C ole as princi pal . Later in 1 905 the site of theoriginal sch ool on An n (K ing) S treet

was sold .

FORT WILLIAM EAST

S t . S tanislaus S eparate S chool wasbuilt in 1 902 , I sabella S chool in 1 907 ,

Drew and S t . Peter’

s in 1 909 , Franklinin 1 909, S t . Ma rtin

’

s and Way lan d' in

1 910. Additions have been built to

several of these sch ool buil dingssince they were first erected .

_

At the

present time there is a total enrolment of about pup ils and a staffof 101 teachers in all t h e sch oOl s of

the city.

PORT ARTHUR

Port Arthur has al so kept pace inth e erecting of schools for the in

creasing p-opu lat ion The North Ward

School was erected in -1 905 , the South

Ward. S chool in . 1 906, th e C urrent

R iver District S chool in 1 91 4 , the Al

berta Land C om pany’

s Inter-city

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THUNDER BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY

Som e Rem iniscences of EarlyDays in F ort W

’

i ll iam

Th e follow ing excerp t from an ad

dress delivered by M r. H . S ellers .before the H i storical S ociety, w ill befound very interesting . Mr . S ellerslived for many years in Fort Williamand h is statements are thereforeauthoritative :At that

“time we needed n o tablet

to commemora te where the site ofthe Hudson Bay post stood . It wasstil l very much in evidence .

‘Thestockades an d all the houses stillstood in their original p laces , largelycomposed of other than their originalinhabitants . The R ichards familywere still there , but th e rest of thedwellings were occup ied by men w h o

held official positions in an d aboutthe C anadian Pacific railway an d

were used as boarding houses for them en who were at that time buildingelevator A . H owever

,the H . B . post

proper held n o official representativeof the Hudson Bay company , the mainpart or populous portion was at whatwas th en called the “'l own ~ Plot” or

west Fort William now .

“E levator“A” still stands , though n ot th e of

fi ce , that edifice being an ol d b ox car

too antiquated even at that time t o beof an y further service on the road . Im ight say that this w as the prevailin g style of architecture on the C anadian Pacific railway at that time foroffices .

At th e Town Plot was the railwaytermin us , round house , machine shopan d the usual equ ipm en t

'

t h at ' pertainsn ow to a place of t h e importance ofS chreiber or White R iver .

‘

TheNeeb in g H otel was al so located there .

This palatial structure exists , n ow

only in history , but at tha t time at

tain ed continental fame as a politicalscandal at th e time of the M acK en z ie

government,equaled only by th e S ir

John A . M cDon al d government scandal of four years previous . This hotelwas built to accommodate the en

g in eers of the C anadian Pacific ra ilway during the time of its con st ru c

tion (Mr . Pratt and others ) , but waslater occup ied by oth er emp loyes in

19

much the same manner as t h e Hu d

son Bay pos t at Fort William properhad been . . It was destroyed by fire afew years later . Otherw ise it mighthave had a p lace in our chronicles ason e of our landmarks .

As to the site which ‘ i s known asFort William today : The industrieswere Graham an d H orne ’s mill , . C ar

pen ter’

s saw mill , the C anadian Pacifi c coal dock ,

situated below whereelevator

“C”

n ow stands , an d elevator“A” which at that time , compara

t iv ely speaking, an d in the minds of

the few w h o l ived here then , almostrivaled Mount M cK ay in grandeur .

At al l events it was more looked at .So much , by way of introduction ,which seems to me necessary to layth e scene , as it is of the social aspectan d p leasant life I w i sh to contrastthen an d n ow .

We were , as compared w ith PortArthur an d the Town P lot , only afew , t h e

'

n am es that come readiest tomy m ind being the M cK el lars ,

M cIn

tyres,Perrys , Livingstones , C arpen

ters , Botsfords an d John M cLau rin .

Th i s wa s thirty years ago. Afterward ,slow ly , as the p lace grew , cameothers . Mrs . S ellers an d t h e writercame

/to live in Fort William in the

spring of’

87 an d occup ied the houseat the

,junction of t h e M cK el lar and

Kam rivers . We liv ed there severalyears an d rank them as the most eujoyab le of ou r lives . Possibly wewere easily satisfied , but we had agood deal of p leasure , a genuinehealthy pleasure , with all w ith whomwe came in C ontact . We all went tot h e same church . We had to, as alldenominations used the same b uildin g , for the excellent reason thatthere was n o other . This was theschool-house at which Miss Kinsey(who later married Will Botsford ) ,officiated as teacher to about twentypup il s during the week . We had theuse of the school-room for the purpose of divine worship on Sund ays ,usually in the afternoon ; Mr . Shearer,Mr . Machin or a college student who

20 THUNDER BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY

came along being all alike welcome .

It mattered n ot w hat denomination ,we w ere ' al l alike , an d denominational ism only developed as we becamemore numerous an d prosperous . John

M cK el lar was king , an d what h e saidwas about as good as law ,

an d to himmost disputes were voluntarily subm it t ed . They were usually. decidedquickly an d quietly at that time, butlater, under

"

increasing pressure , asthe population became greater an dmore unres t became p revalent , therewere .more differences of op inion , etc . ,more lawyers . an d other appu rten an

ces of prosperity . I once heard . Mr .

M cK el lar make a,

r em ark u in a moment of' e xasperat ion at having t o decide something that had resulted in

a difference » of op inion between twoparties , which I have often laughedat an d still en joy

'

i t . I t was this :‘

C onfound it , we were all right untilwe had parsons and lawyers cometo live amongst us .

” I want to sayhere, that desp ite an y change in con

d it ion s, in sp ite of the great influx

of succeeding populations an d prosperi ty ,

. Joh n McK el lar held the position to the day of his death . H e wasthe recognized head of the town an d ,

later,- the city of , Fort William

.

Aside from his offici al position asmayor , r v ery many people came

_toh im w ith their troubles an d wouldrather have him settle between themthan the cou rt s ,

. an d in my experi

ence I have never seen a decisionmade b y ’

h im that was n ot respectedan d accepted .

Later at the C anadian Pacific station there were two Irishmen w h o

kept hotel s , Pat Manion an d Gorman .

They were interm inably quarrelingan d

“constantly coming to John to ask

h im to settle their differences . I re

member on the last occasion Johnfelt about fed up on it . H e took off

his hat, scfratch ed his h ead , an d

studied them both for a minute . H e

finally said slowly, w ith his S cotch

accent : Well , I don’t know wh at

the British government can do w ithof you in Ireland when I

can’

t pacify two of you ou t here .

I have gone further into th e abovethan I intended an d am afraid I haved ig ressed

'

from my subject . I started in to say that there being so fewof u s , we Were mutually inter-dependen t w ith each “

other . With the . M e

K el lars , M cIn tyres“an d Perrys the

latch-string was always on the outside an d we went anywhere at n ight ,to. each other’s houses

,w ith or w ith

out ah invitation . C ards—whist mostly—played ad li b . This was p layed

so well that n o ordinary player daredattempt . it . . O ccasionally it was p layed for '

prizes but personally I drewnothing but in fu riat ed looks from m ypartners .

Music , however , w as our long suit ,an d“.we had at times a very fair gleeclub , meeting at M cK el lar

’

s an d Mc. Intyre

’

s an d later at“Mrs . Geo. Gra

hams . P eter M cK el lar was usuallyconductor . H e was also , I think ,

theconductor of the choir at the smallschool house an d later when th e

larger school'was built , where the

Bank of Montreal n ow stands . Whenthe first Presbyterian church wasbuilt , Mr . Geo . R oss took ch arg e an d

E xcel l’

s Anthem books came intovogue , an d Mr . R oss made up a reallyexcellent choir . An adjunct to thischoir was organized by“ the in defat igable D . W . Mitchell , an d b ecam eknown , as C hoir B . It was composedof F . C . P erry an d himself . Theirrepertoire was n ot extensive , their

m ost telling number being theanthem ”We

’ll Hunt the B u fi alo .

Mr .

“M cK el lar was soloist , assisted by

choir“B .

” I think they gradu allydrifted apart , but Mr . M cK el lar i stoday our worthy president , an d Mr .

Perry is a respected member of‘

ou r

socie ty'

an d an y further informationthat is desired on this subject may b eobtained on appl ication to them .

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY 21

By MIS S SARAH STAF F ORD

Betw een‘

railway construction an d

cathedrals there is a vast difference ,but there is on e thing they have in

common an d that is : many handshave created them . The cathedralsof

‘

E u rope have bequeathed undyingfame

,yet n o man ’

s name is linkedw ith

l

t h em ; they are th e work '

of

generations an d are the expression ofgenius , high ideals an d religion .

Leaders they had to have wh o couldplan an d c arry through the organizedwork of railway con struction . Suchm en as S ir John A . Macdonald ,Laurier

, M ount S tephen , S trathcona .

Van Horne , Shaughnessy , Wm . McKenzie , Hays -an d many others stoodback of these builders of a mightyheritage . “ S trange th at

'

,C an ada at

th 1s on e time , w ithin a near radius of

each other, should produce three m en

destined to leave their name engravedon the page of C anadian history .

William M cK en z ie was born at Kirkville

, On t . , in 1 849, an d had been aschool teacher

,store-keeper an d lum

ber-m an before opportunity knockedat his door . Donald Mann

' was bornfour years later at A-oton , On t . ; nearthe . old home of James B . H ill of railway fame . Donald Mlann was broughtup for the ministry an d when twentyon e Was a foreman in a lumber camp .

At twenty-fi v e he joined the ru sh toWinnipeg . Behind thes e two greatleaders came a shadowed army ofworkers wh o were indispen sible : Theexplorer who went through t h e wilderness braving steep percip ices an d

b l iz zard s'

in search of a lower grade ;m en w ith th e p ick an d shovel , amighty a rmy shifting an d changing ;the E nglish navvy , the Irish canaller ,the C hinese coolie , the Swede , theItalian , the R uthenian , housed in

noisome bunks , then fleeced by employm en t agen t s , often p lundered bysub-contractors , facing sudden deathby ign orance of dynamite

,or slow

death by fever—these were . th e m en

w h o carried on t h e humdrum workevery day , track mending

,ticket

punching ; engine stoking, . patientlypaying taxes on endless bonuses .

These shadowy army Of workers were

n ot least among the railway buildersof C anada .

William M cK en z ie an d DonaldMann were both C anadians an d hadb een trained in railway construction—the en gineering capacity of the twopartners was great . Branch l ineswere thrown o u t from east to west , toBritish C olumbia , to Quebec an d

throughout Ontario great dominatingsystems grew apace . Th e UnitedS tates reached out for a share of C anadian traffic

,the Great Northern in

teres ts secured a footing in t h e eastan d the New York C entral in thewest , and for every mile which theUnited S tates railroads controlled in

C anada the C anadian roads controlledsix in the United S tates . The C an

adian Northern has a direct railwaybetween east an d w es t w h ich i s usedfor th e .handling of

’

freight ; they havealso a direct connection between W in

n ipeg an d Duluth through Fort Frances an d

_are p lanning to have a rou teto Great Britain by way of Hudson ’sBay . This has also opened a marketin Western C anada for th e - u se of .

fisheries . Th e C anadian Northernlines cross

_ the boundaries of Manitob a

'

in to the‘

Northwes t T erritories .

It received grants from Ontario tobring lines between Port Arthur an d

Sudbury . In 1 910 the C anadian North ern S teamship s , Limited ,

were used,

an d a descrip tion of h ow i t had doneso much to open the great d oor of

the west an d her power . in meetingthe

‘

grain trade, an d t h e

'

h is tory ofPort Arthur is indissolubly linkedw ith the C anadian Northern R ailway . The C anadian Pacific

‘

R ailway transcontinental

_had located .i ts

principal p lant in Fort William , butfor a . time it conducted its packagefreight shipp ing at P '

ort_Art h u r, but

through a disagreement, the management of t hat - road moved it back toFort Wil liam .

It was the boast of the m an wh o atthat time presided over th e dest inies

_

of the C P R .

“that he would make the

grass grow in the streets of PortArthur .” H is boast almost was fulfilled . That it was n ot comp letely

22 THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR I CAL SOC IETY

realized is in al l probability due to

an agreement made between thecouncil of Port Arthur an d th e m an ~

ag em en t of the C anadianRailway by which the vigorous n ew

road was secured to the city of PortArthur .

The C anadian Northern possibly ap

preciat ed the opportunity“ when theC anadian Pa cific R ailway removed itsequipment ou t of the municipal ity -o f

Port Arthur . At an y rate , as the

lines“of the C . N . R . were be ing

rap idly comp leted to a jun ction b e

tween the wes t an d Lake S uperior, asituation was created making it of

mutual benefi t to t h e‘

com pan y an d

the city that the term in al s/

b f t h e’

line be located in Port Arth ur . Ao

cord in g ly an ag reement was effectedbetween the coun cil an d the 'management of the C anadian Northern R ailway , an d out of that agreement hasarisen t h e sp lendid plant possessedby t h e C anadian

“

N orth ern Railway inour m idst , an d which en terprise isth e means of providing employmentto such a large proportion of ou r

people .

The C anadian No‘rthern agreed thatall wheat moving to the east overit s lines should go through Port Arthur . To imp lement that p ledge , an

elevator of capacity was tob e erected . The building was com

pl et ed in the. autumn of 1 901 . In 1 904

its capacity was increased to000 bushels . Even this addition provin g insufficient t o accommodate t h erap idly in creas in g t id e of grain fromth e west , -the elevator was furth er en

larged in 1 91 3 to bushelspractically t en m illion bushel s—makin g it the largest consolidated eley ator p lant in the world .

Th e ' t erm in al elevator has -

a track\

capacity of t hirty cars , an d it hasbeen estimated that under conditionsof urgency 600 cars of wheat a _ daycould b e unloaded . With cars aver

aging bushels , that would meanbushels , elevated , weighed and

binned in on e day of two shifts . Thegrain is taken in hoppers from thecars to the top. of the build ing whereit is weighed an d distributed into th ebins . When transferring to a lakevessel the grain is

,taken -

'

from th e

bottom of the b in , elevated:

to t h e top ,

i s weighed , conveyed to a shipp ingb in and from thence by shipp ing legs

Northern

spouted” into : the hold . There arefive shipp ing legs to each of two workin g houses , each leg having a capacityof from to bushels perhour . Und er ideal conditions.bushels

'

could be unloadedfrom this elevat or in an hour .

The C . N. R . coal docks have adock frontage of 600 feet

, accom m o

dating boats of an y length n ow on thelakes . Depth of water at dock front25 feet ; storage capacity , tonsBituminous and tons Anthracite coal ; e quipment , four Mead M or

rison unloading rigs w ith two-t on

clam-shells , unloading capacity 700

tons per hour ; one bridge w ith twoon e-ton hoists an d buckets

, _and on e

bridge w ith tw o_

two-ton hoists andf b u cket s ; annual capacity over000 tons .

Th e first unit of the dock.

was com

p let ed an d the company commencedoperations in the year 1 906.

The purpose of the C ompany is tohandle an d store coal (but n ot to buyan d sell ) . arriving from eastern lakeport s for consumption in WesternC anada an d New Ontario . The op

erat ion s consist of discharging coalfrom the ship s through the handlingp lant of the dock , either direct to

railway cars or to storage on thedock . If the coal is discharged direct

to storage , the company p icks up andreloads the same to cars for transportby rail .

The present storage capacity (caled w inter storage ) consists of

tons of hard coal stored in speciallyconstructed storehouses equippedw ith handling machinery called “hardcoal sheds” an d filled ground storagecapacity for tons of soft

_coal

in t h e open . The practice is to handleover the dock approximately doublethe storage capacity each season , asabout on e-half of the total is loadedfrom ‘the ship s over the dock direct torailway cars . The coal handled over

the dock_

ih 1 9 1 3 (May 1 st to Decemb er 3 1 st ) , exceeded on e million tons ;about on e-half was for ~ the requirements of the C anadian Northern R ai l

,way an d the other half commercialcoal belonging to coal dealers w h o

are customers of the dock .

f Th e method of unloading coal fromboats is by means of four hoistingtowers

,each w ith a capacity of 200

THUNDER BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY

tons per hour , or a total unloadingcapacity of 800 tons per hour. Acable car system carries the coal fromthe towers an d dum p s it in an y desired p lace

,either on the open

\

stor

age ground by means of travellingbridges or in an y particular b in in

an y hard coal shed .

The Prince Arthur Hotel , erected

in 1 910, i s a splendidly equipped s ixstorey fireproof building, overlookingthe railway station . Its appointmentsare such that none of the hostelries

of the older cities_

can d o more to

s atisfy t h e needs of exacting travellers . Th e rotunda is carried to thefull height of two storeys ; around itswalls are a chain of mural p aintingsportraying t h e building of t h e C an

adian ‘Northern into the city . Thehotel

_i s designed to give the maximum of comfort to every guest . E achbedroom i s twenty feet long an d eachroom i s an Outside room . The firstthree floors are finished in mahog any ,while the upper floors are weatheredoak. The dining room i s located on

the first floor, approaching from therotunda by a marble staircase . Theservice , provided by capable attendants , is only equalled by the excellent cuisine .

So, through the C anadian NorthernR ailway , Port Arthur resumed to agreat extent its proud position on theSuperior waterfront . But it lackedthe immediate connection by rail

over t h e C anadian Northern to Toronto , Ottawa, M ontreal , Quebec an d

other eastern centres . In the autumnof 1 91 1 a beginning was made uponth e construction of that section oft h e main line between Sudbury

.an d

Port Arthur . Th ere were approximately 600 m iles of almost unbroken_w ilderness to b e spanned . The work

was p ressed forward s‘

o vigorouslythat in the autumn of 1 91 3 it becameapparent that t h e road would b e comp leted as far as the physic al connection between the cities was concerned , by th e end of the year. As amatter of fact on December 3ot h aspecial train carrying th e officialheads of the C anadian Northern R ailway departed quietly from Toronto

23

w ith the intention of making the ru n

through to Port Arthur over the linesof the company . On New Year ’s dayS ir William Mackenzie drove the lastspoke on t h e

'

l in e at Li ttle WhiteOtter

“

R iver, 2 5 4 miles east of PortArthur . The city of Port Arthur or

gan ized a banquet to celebrate thecomp letion of the tying in of the railsbetween the ' Queen C ity an d thispoint , an d th e banquet was held amidgeneral rej oicing on the part of thecitizens .

Th e early predictions were reviewed at some length , an d compared w iththe development of the railway an d

city up to that time , an d prophesiesas to the future . indulged in . Then ,

in mid-summer of 1 91 4 , came the war .

The C anadian Northern did n ot

cease its constructive program . Itslines have been comp leted from At

lantic tidewater at Quebec to thePacific at Vancouver, an d Victoria .

It possesses in that main line theeasiest gradients of an y road of s imilar national importance on the con

t in en t of_

Nort h America , or in t h e

world for th at matter . It has opened u p vast areas to settlement an d

development . In the C lay Belt toth e

‘

eas t of us it has installed thenucleus of t h e big industrial projectat Foleyet an d it i s the intention

,when the time is opportune, to extend

the scope of that enterprise to otherpoins in the C lay Belt .P ort _

Arth u r must be b en efi t t ed byevery expan s ion

I

t h at takes p lace in

the p lans of the C anadian NorthernR ailway enterprise. We are its cen

tral divisional point . Ou r c-ity standsat the point where the cars an d theship s meet , which is a developmentthat should . n ot be overlooked . In

1 902 the citizens of Port Arthur welcomed the first C anadian Northerntrain to this

_ city. The community of

interest which became a fact then ,has increased as years have gone by,an d it may n ot be doubted that thewelfare of Port Arthur an d Fort William must be favorably affected byt h e further development of the C an

adian Northern Railway an d the territory which it serves .

MRS . J . M . SHERK , (GAY PAGE)Whocon trib u t ed“Leg en dary Lore of Lake S uperioran d com piled“,Early History of P ort Art h u r from

b ooks presen t ed b y Miss C ross .

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26 THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY

R .J; E dwards , architect ; Fred Jones ,

1 87 5 , postmaster ; Peter Nichol son ,collector of customs , 1 874 ; N . T .

White,L . D . S , Albert M cGi l li s , J . A .

M cD on n el l , M . D . ,W . G . Bryson , M . D ,

an d J . T . C larke , M . D . , father of W . J .

C larke .

The. list of manufacturers includesthe names of : '

Geo. H . Kennedy ; W .

an d J . J erit t , Woodside Bros . , Vigars

Bros . ,

“J ones an d Wetmore , Angus

C ampbell, C onrad Gehl , Daniel C o-ven ey ,

P . S . Griffin , G . W . Brown C o . ,

Smith Mitchell , Anderson Muir ,M . J . Dillon ,

Fred Daniels , an d SamuelWillcock .

The mercantile business w as con

ducted by : S treet Bros . , D . M cK en z ie

C o . ,Marks , M cK ay C o. , A . W .

Th omp son Bros . , C onmee Th om pson ,

A . M . C ooke , J . E . Saucier C o . ,

L . U . Bonin , J . L . Meikle , H enryNicholson , J . H . Bartle , W . E ades , A .

E . McGregor C o . , T . S . T . Smellie ,M . D . ; O

’

C on n or W . J . C larke ,“

George C lavet , Duncan M cDon al d ,

Neelin C o . , J . T . C ooke , H enryFoote , Daniel C ampbell , ,

s . J . M cLaren ,

David Hall , Mrs!Meikle , E . G . Debernardi , W . R odney , J . P . Hale , T . R .

M u sker, an d Leishman M cGreg or.

. The hostels were : Queen’s

,Pacific

,

Mining E xchange , Sh u n iah H ouse ,C lub H ouse , C osmopolitan , Scan d in avian , Lincoln H ouse , W . H . Parker restau ran t , American H ot el , and J . T .

Pope ’s restaurant .

Ag en cies w ere represented by : Geo.

T . Marks , J . T . R uttan C o. , J amesDickson

, R obert Maitland , J . Flaherty,an d T . D . Ledyard .

The new spapers were : The,Thunder

Bay S entinel , established 1 874 by

Th om as E gan ; E vening H erald , 1 882 ,Harvey Knight

,publishers and pro

prietors .

The public s chool was organized in1 87 3 under E . P .

_

Lan grel l , and thepresent schoolh ouse erected in 1 874 ,

w ith 160 on the roll . Principal M . N .

Armstrong had Miss Bowerman asassistant .

The churches : Father Baxter ar

rived in 1 872 , and R ev . P . Ham el wasresident priest in 1 883 . Th e conventbuilt in 1 881 , h ad

‘

R ev . Mother Pazziin charge , w ith five sisters of theOrder of S t . Joseph . The Presbyterian C hurch had R ev .

’

J am es H erald aspastor ; R ev . Allan Bowerman , B . A .

,was -fi rst Methodist m is sionary , 1 871 ,w ith M . N . Armstrong, S . S . superin

tendent .

M ining , lumbering an d fishing intere

ests were in the han ds of : GeneralWild , James M cLaren ,

' T . A . Keefer ,Peter M cK el lar (Fort William ) , C . T .

Bates , T . an d G . T . Marks , H . A . andF S . Wiley , and W . H . Laird .

Wm . Margach was _ timber inspect orfor C anadian Government and J .

Dickson , fishery overseer .

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PRES IDENT OF THE HISTORIC AL SOC IETY

THUNDER BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IETY

L adies and ~ Gen t lem en aa nd fellow

I am p leased that I ~

can ,’

in t his , thet en th annual meeting

_oi 'ou r: S ociety ,

record t hat th e" world : w ar . is ended ,

an d w it h it , the fearful slaughter of

life t hat has been incessan t du ringt h e last four years . Autocracy hasb een destroyed , an d

“buried d eep , we

h ope , for . all time ._

C hrist ianity and

freedom h ave won t h e greates t an dm ost g lorious human vict ory t hat hasb

'

een recorded in history .

In the meantime , J oy and . Grief gohand in" hand together. Grief for t h e ”

loss of the brave m en and women w h oh ave suffered an d died to save u s andth e coming generations from s lavery

,

an d joy , that we hav e been favored byt heh elp of God to win th e great war.

I m ight men tion that the Novemberm eetin g was held over u ntil December on account of t h e ep idemic of tu

flu enza”It is st ran ge , b ut tru e , the greatm u rderou s w orld war en ded in t h em idst of an u nknown and un accoun t

able d eadly plague, th e Spanish Influen za, an d it appears to have in vadedall nat ion s . It is like t h e“La Grippe ,w ith oth er dan gerou s comp li cations ,

an d often terminates in death verysu dden ly . Doctors a n d nu rses werecom paratively scarce , so that untrained w omen

_had t o be brough t into re

qu isit ion ,_and bravely resp ond ed .

Schools and pu blic p laces in gene ral ,were closed for w eeks . In some families , only orph an children survived the“F lu ,

”so t hat t h e su ffering was p iti

fu l . Th is locality , Thun der Bay , sru f

fered mu ch like ot her places , b u t itseem ed to be m ore severe i n Winnipeg . I m ay m en tion a few ou ts ide re

ports to Show general condit ions inother p laces .

Th e Toron to Globe , Dec . 1 4t h , re

ports death s in t h e. Samoa Island s , ou t of a popu lat ion of

Sf

om oa is s i tu ate-d sou th of t h e E qua

tor, in the Sou th Pacific Ocean .“Toron to , Jan . 3 .

—Du ring the lastth ree m on th s , influenza and pneu

monia took a tol l of l ives in t h e

province '

of Ont ario.

’

In October t h edeat h rate was

'

t h e'

h ig h est , per

sons succum bing to the malady. InNovember

_the number fell towhile last mon th there was a furtherdecrease to 1 ,65 8 .“

Th e continued prevalence in somelocalities wou ld indicate a recurrenceof t h e ep idemi c ,” says the monthly re

port of the provincial board of healt h ,

Which was i ssu ed today . Th e cities

and towns reporting the greatest n umb er of deaths , including some latereturns for November, are as fol loWs ;“Toronto 232 , Hamilton 1 83, London26, Sault S te . Marie 28 , Ottawa'1 5Windsor 38, Kingston 1 3, St . C atha;rine s 39 , Peterboro 32 Port Arthu r

23 Fort William 30, Niagara FallsGuelph 27 , Wellan d 21 , S arnia 1 1 , Su dbu ry 77 , Kitchen er 1 2 , Wallaceburg43 Uxbridge 1 9 , Huntsville 1 5 , M idlan d 11 , C ollingwood 12, Fort Fran ces16, R ainy

“R iver 8 , Dunnville 1 1 , Dun

das 8, Kenora 9 , Tren ton 8 an d Pembroke 8 .

. Th e stat ist ics are comp iled fromt h e retu rns of t h e undertakers .

”

At the Medical C onvention las t

mont h , in C hicago doctors disagreedas to th e valu e of m n ocu lat ion for in

flu en za , or t h e n atu re of the influ

enza germ . It is to b e h oped t hatscience v . ill have discovered the antidote for the

“F lu

” poison before apossible recurrence of the p lagu e .

S HIPBU ILDINGTwo fine w ooden steamers , t h e

War S ioux” and t h e

“War Nipigon"

were built, and l aunched into theK am in ist iqu ia R iver t his summ er, an dlarge crowds of peop le w itnessed thechristenings . These boats w ere builtby the Great Lakes Dredging companyand were the first large boats bu ilt in

Fort William .

Again , du ring t h e sum mer 1 91 8,

there have been bu ilt twelve fi n e steelSteamers (mine ' sweepers ) for t h e

’

French government by the C anadianC ar Foundry C o. in Fort William .

s THUNDE R -BAY H ISTORIC AL S OC IETY

Th ey were“all finished an d launch ed

before th e en d of November , and is

reported to be a .- record‘-breaker

'

in’

fast boat bu ilding .

I may ment ion t h e sad story of two ,

of these boat s , the Inkerm an an d theC orisol les , t hat

“

w ere lost w ith their

precious French marines , numberingab out 78 sou ls , 5 Al l w ere lost .

’

Theyl eft Fort Will iam , on t lh e 23rd of No

y em ber, u

rejoicing in their expectationof soon reach ing thei r h omes faraway ; but , alas , th ey m et their hom esin th e stormy wav es of Lake Superior.

On e of t h e saddest events recorded inth e h i story of the Great Lakes .

PRE

'

HISTOR IC RE LIC SI may m en tion t h e discovery m ade

in t h e valley of th e K am in ist iquiariver last May of prehistoric reli cs of

b ones an d copper in strumen ts . I , h éin g t h e Presiden t of th e Th under BayHistorical S ociety , inve stigat ed t h e

mat ter . Th e relies were discov eredin a deep excavation that was bein gmad e by th e C an adian C ar F oundryC ompany for launch ing th e steel boa ts{m ine sweepers ) t hat . were bein gb u ilt for th e French government . Th e

r’

eIics were foun d at a depth of 40

feet below the su rface_

in'

a stratumof clay , sand an d s ilt , abou t 80 feet PE TE R M C KE LLAR .

n orth of t h e K am in ist iqu ia turn in gbasin and abou t 10 feet below t h esurface of th e R iver . The indicationspoint ed i t to b e of hi storical valu e .

Th e d i scoverers kindly ag reed to let

me place t h e s amp les on exhib itionin t h e Pu bli c Library an d g et a scien

t ifi c report made of them . Th e

Librarian , Miss M . J . L . Black,

'

kin -d lyagreed , and I got a fi n e photographmade of the fifteen pieces , on a p lateon a scale on

'

eéfi ft h natural s ize . Acopy of t h e photo was m ailed to th ePre sident of the Geological S ociety .

Ottawa , enqu iring as to what shou ldbe don e w ith them . Th e Ac ting Director, Mr.

_

Wm . M cIn n es , recommen ded boxing them , and sendin g th em direct t o t h e Geolog ical Mu seum , Of;tawa , wh ere a t h orou gh exam in ationan d report w ou ld be m ade by cap

~

able Palaeolog i‘

st s and Arch aeolo

g ists

I_

sent the s amples an d t h e informa;

tion requ est ed , an d th ey have'

b eenreferred to at later m eetin g s . Th e re

port b y th e D irector of t h e GeologicalS ociet y on t h e resu lt of t h e exam in ation of the sam ples h as been read .

and w ill appear in a pap er in t h e

Nin th An nual .

" W ‘

THUNDE R BAY I—I ISTOR IC AL SOC IETY

MIS S M . J . L . BLAC K

Fort William“, Dec . 27t h , 1 918 .

To th e President and Members of the ,

Th under Bay Hi st orical S ociety ;

Mr . President and fellow members '

I h ave the h onor to present the follow in g report as secretary-treasurer ,for the year 1 91 7 1 91 8 :

Du ring the year , w e have had s ixregu lar meetings , t h e dates , speakersand su bjects , being as f ollow s

Oct .

—Mr. Peter McK el lfiarMining on S ilver Lake

N‘

ov . 30 - Miss St afford ; C anadian‘

North ern R ailway .

F eb . 1 . 1 91 8—No special speaker .F eb . 22—Mr. M cK el lar. Brief incidents relat ing to m in ing

'

_ on ThunderBay prev iou s to 1 870.

April 1 2—S ergean t—M ajor Gorman ;second battle of Yp

-res .

S ept . 27—Mr. M cK el lar ; somearchaeolog ical i nformat ion regarding thislocality.

Al l of th ese addresses"

w ere m ost

en j oyable , an d were great ly appreciate d by our m em b ers . We h ave eigh teenmembers in g ood standing , w it h

,a

regu lar atten dan ce of‘

abou t fift een .

"

In t h e death of Mr . Donald M cK el lar

our society su ffered a very g reat loss .

He was always g reatly in terested in‘

t h e work of th e society and was al‘ way s w illin g to help in every way .

As a m em b er, and a. friend , we m is sh im g reat ly .

Finan cially , ou r society is in an excel len t con dition . We h ave reason

. to congrat u late our presiden t on his

. su ccess in le ssenin g the debt on t h e

{t ab let . At the presen t d ate , it w illsoon b e en tirely pai d for. Ou r fin an cialstatem en t, covers the off icial year ,Oct . to Oct . , an d i s as follow s :

R E C E IPTS

Oct . 1 1 91 7 , bal . in bankFee (Misses Livingst one )Government chequeFees—Mr. and Mrs . Oliver ,Misses S tafford and Grant ,Mr . and M rs .

'

M cK el lar, Mr .

_

‘

and Mrs . Graham , Mr. D . Davies , Mr. and Mrs . Joh n King ,Mr . and Mrs . MacE dward ,

Mrs . Sherk , Mrs . Lay b urn

and Miss Pam ph y lon

Donations : W . S . PiperAlderm an E dm isonMayor Mu rph y

EXPENDITU R E SGladstone payment on

m onument $1 2 5 .00

T1m es~Journ al print ing annual 91 .2 5

Mrs .

New s C hron icle , advertising 1 .20

Oct . 1 , bal . in bank

Th e follow ing memo , brings ou r

statement u p-to-date :

R eceived :Government grant $100.00Don ation , G . R . Duncan 10.00

Donation , E . S . RutledgeDonation , C larence J ackson .

Donation , R . E . WalkerDon -ation , G . W . BrownMembersh ip fee , Mr . an d Mrs .

J . E . Ru tledg e

We have pa id ou t on accountfor monument , leaving u s with a balan ce in t h e ban k , t onigh t of

We have paid Mrs . Glads ton e $82 5on a ccount , leaving a balance still du eof

Al l of which is respectfu lly,

subm itted .

M . J . L . BLAC K ,

Secretary-Treasu rer .

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

THE PRES IDENT

It seems desirable t hat t h e work '

ac

com p l-ish ed during those ten years

sh ould be briefly revi ewed . We have

been working under d ifficulties , ascomparatively few ,

very f ew ,of t h e

population of t h e Tw in C '

it ieS'

h av e b e

come interested in the work , TheSociety is affiliat ed wit h

_ the Provincial H i st orical S ociety, an d invest edwi th Ich arteral

'

p owers . Th e workShould be promoted and the early h istory prese rved , to instill pa triot i sminto future generations .We hav e accumu lat ed a cons ider

ab le amount of valuable material t ohelp writers an d hist orians .in t he irWork, as well ‘

as int erested in div idual s wh o lov e their country.

We h ave publish ed.

nine Ann ua l s ,containin g many ma tters relating to

the count ry, more especially .to theDi strict of Thunder Bay . T h e papersprized t h e mo st are th ose written b ythe present an d past p ioneers . Next ,the papers written by exper t s or per

sons most fami liar w ith t h e variIOIu s

b ran ch es of in dustry upon which theywri te . F or exam p le , for municipalmat ters , Mr. J . J. Wells , m any yearst ax collector ; for railways and harbOrS , M r. A . L . Russell , C .E . , and t h e

pioneer surveyor"

and en g in eer inThu n der Bay , and so on .

We have d istrib uted m any cop ie sof th ese Annu als to indiv idu als in an doutside of th e Dist rict, as wel l as to

many historical societies an d se ient ifi c in stitutions t h roughout C anadaand the United S tates . In return Wehave receiv ed many p ublications .

We have gathe red anecdotes, p ic

tures , photographs , IpIre—h istOric .reli cs

an d early local newspapers includinga. fi le of th e

“Thunder Bay S entinel”

from it s incep t ion , 1 87 5 to 1 894,abou t

twenty years , Io-

Inly a few cop i es aremis sing. Al so Ia list of histori c landmarks‘

as the S ea-Lion, S leepingGian t , Point d eMeuron Pot sHoles ,

etc. Th e d ates and localit ie s of localpubl ic works, as turn ing the first sodof th e C P R , pres sing the first but

ton Oi the first electric p ower, et c.

The f ol lowing is a list of t h e pape rs ,writers an d il lustration s appearing in

the Ann uals :

C on t rib u t ors of Papers t o AIn n Iu'

aIs of

t h e T h u n d er Bay His torical Soc iet y .

FIR ST ANNUAL1 . Alexan der C alhoun , S ecretaryPreface to the Thunder Bay B i storica l S ociet y.

2 . Peter M cIK el lar, F.

IG .S .

—In t-r<>d

'

u IctoIry

'

Add ress .3 . A . L . R us sell , C .E . , D .L .IS .

I -C ol .

Wol es ley’

s E xp editi on .

Fergus B ,lack B .A. ,M .D .

Legend re Thunder Bay, in verse5 . J oh n M cLaurin , p ioneer—E arly

home-m akin g in Thunder II

.-Bay

6. John King, E sq—Re E arlyRa i lway C onst ruct -ion, C . P . R .

7 . Mi ss IS I.

'

S t afford—Ode t o LakeS uperior .

SE C OND ANNUAL

, 1 . Mary A. S lipper—Se cret ary ’

s

R eport.2 . M is s ’

C . C . Gran t—Treasurer’

s

Report3 . Donald M I IcK el lar, E sq.

-IRe Military E xpedition , 1 87MO.

4 . Mi s s B . DoIb ie—C irlh- '

ood Daysof E arlier Port Arthur.

5 . Harry S ellers , E sq—Grain andE levator

’

s H i story in Tw in C i t ies .

1 . Miss C . C . Grant—secretaryTreasurer

’

s R eport .2. M i s s M . J . L . Black—Re Pu b l icLibrary .

3 . A. A . Vickers, E ssq.

—In IdianTreaty in Fort William , 1 85 9.

4 . Dr . T . S . Smellie ,—Re Rel iefS ociety in Thunder

“B ay .

5 . F . F regeau ,—Jq Irn al ism in

Th un der B-ay .

6. Mrs . E . C . Perry—Re PioneerNewspaper.

7 . M iss Mary M cK el lar—Pion eerPoem .

.

10‘

THUNDER BAY. H ISTOR IC AL S OC IE TY .

Pet er McIK el l-ar,‘

IE Isqr—I C on tesit“for Terminus of

“C P R . b etween

Thun d er . Bay an d INi -igon Bay .

M is s Sarah IS Itafi ord—P ort Ar

th ur in Ye"

IOIl Id en T ime .

1 0. W . J . Hami lt on , S chool Inspe ctor—Early H istory of S i lver I slet .

F QU IRTH ANNUAL

Miss C . C . Grant—S ecret aryTreasurer

’

s R ep .ort2 . Mi s s . .M J . L B l ack—S ecretaryTreasu

’rer s Rep- Iort .

“3 . M iss M .

I‘

IS l ipIper—E arly Port Ar

thur Boom4 . Peter M cK el lar,

HeadI Ti n Swi nd .le '

5 . J . J . Wells ,H istory of Fort William .

6. M i ss J . R ob in—Fort WilliamMission .

7 . Donal d McK el lar, E sq—E arl yMai l S ervi ce in Thunder -

'

Bay .

FIFTH '

ANINUAI

L

1 . M i s s M . J . L . B lack—S ecretaryTreasurer

’

s R eport .2 . .Miss B . Dobie—Pioneer Women

Of Port Arthur .

3 . Peter McK el lar, Es-q.

-Re TwinC ity H arbors .

4 .-D . Smi th , E Iq.

—R e New spap ers .

I5 . Dr . E . B . O liver—Department ofHealth .

W C . Dobi e , Pol ice Magistrate—At lan It ic Voyage 69“Years -Ag o

S IXTH ANNUAL. 1 . I Pres iden t’s Ad dress.

2 . S ecretary-Treasu rer’s report .

Pet er M oK el l-a-r, E’sq.

—‘

Tfh e Ori

g inal Kam C Elu Ib :

4 ;“A . L . Russell ,

Hi s tory of Fort IWIil l iam , M idd le of

XIX . C entury

- 5 . A . L . Russell ,H ist o-ry Of Port Arthur .

Peter Mc -Kellar , E’

sq.

-Fort Wi lliam s Early New spapers .

S EVENITHAIN INUAL

1 . Presiden t’s an d Treasu rer’

s Ad

dresses .

I

z. Peter”

M cK el lar, E sq—H istorical Landmarks in Th under Bay

3 . Peter M cK el lar,'

E sq.

_ Tu rnin g

First l I ISod of C . P . R .

4 . Times-J Iourna l—ISh ip IpinIg Trade

of Fort Wi lli am and Port Arthur .

E sq—Otter

D .L .S.

—B-rief

E sq -Muni

D E S—Brief

Mi ss M . v .

I M Iob e'

rly—Looki ngI Backward .

6. Gay Page—Legendary Lore ofLake Superior .7 . T1m es~ Journ al Unvei ling of

Monument

ILLUSTRATIONS

E IGHTH ANNUAL

1 . Presiden t’

s an IdI S ecret ary-T reasu -rer

’

s R eport s .2 . T imes-Journ al—H 1stori cal Landmark Vanishes .3 . Mrs P . M cK el lar, Mrs . E . B .

O liver—E arly S chools of th e Tw inC i ties .

4 ; Miss lsarah '

S t IaffordI—Rem in iscen IceS of Fort William . RailwayBuild ers of C anada5 . Miss Margaret C ross—Valu able

R ecord s .

SOUVEN IR , 1 91 4

1 . Peter M cK e l lar, Esq—R e F ur

Trad ers .

2 . Th e Inscription on t h e Ob v er-se

Si d e of the Tab let .3 . The Inscrip tion on the R everse

S ide of t h e T ablet .

I llu strat ion—A fi n e ou t of the Mem

oria l TIab le'

t .

FIR ST ANNUAL

1 . Page 4~—F 0rt William in . 1 8 5 6.

2 . Page 16—E lev at or A , Firs t C oal

Dock an d S tone Fort .Pag e 1 74 K am in is t iqu ia R iver .

E arly Days4 . Page 1 8—Platform from dock toroad lead ing into the Fort about 1 870

5 . Page 20—Th e Ice~ jam of 1 893 on

the K am ini stiquia R iver, near mouth .

6. Page 21—The Ice-jam of 1 893 on.

the K am in istiqu ia .

“R iver, . near i ts

fun ction w ith t h e IM oK el Ilar I R iver .

7 . Page 22 .

—'Two s ections . oi t h e

K am in ist iqu ia Harbor C hann els .

8 . Page 24—F 0Irt W illi am ,1 909 .

SE’

C ‘OND ANNUAL1 . Page 4 .

—Peter M cK el lar phot ograph .

Page 8 .

—Mrs .I G . H . S l ipper ,

phot ograph .

3 . Page 1 0.—Mi s s C . C .

ph otograph .

4 . Pa ge 1 2—Mr. Donald M cK el lar,

ph otogruaph

5 . P age 16,

—Miss Belle Dobie . .

photograph .

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12 THUNDER BAY HISTORICAL SOC IE TY

in Thunder B ay in a -few days , and

_ ifor h is favor in,t his w orthy cau se .

‘

On t h e 1 2t h of Oct-ob ,er 1 916, S ir

George -.E Foste r, Minist er of Trade

an d C ommerce , availed himself of the

p leasure of‘‘

unveilin g” t h e great tablet, whi le the member s of the Thunder Bay Hist orical Society h ad thehono-

,r th e joy and th e satis faction of

w itn essin g th e crown ing ceremon y of

th e Unyeil ing of t h e monum ent . Abeautiful photograph was taken during the unveiling and was copy

righted,Th e president of th e Historic Land~

m arkls Association of C anada“

wroteme in October 1 916, a sking for a copy

of th e ch ief hist oric l and site in Thun

der Bay , as t h e H i st oric Landmarks

Association desired to have it incor

porat ed in the fi rst series of thedirectory , which was then in course of

preparati .on,

Mr. A . L . R ussell and m ys elf h ad been appointed t o attend to

th e h istoric l-an vd si te s , an d h ai prepared a plan of t h e old Hudson Bay C om

pan y’

s post, a plot of 1 5 acres . We

mailed t hi s plan as well as the un

v eiling pi-v vctorial view . The latter was

selected for the direct ory and given aprominent place

In c los ing , I wish to t hank .al li

our

co workers for th eir cont inued help

an d I am sure that all will join me insincere t hanks t o our fa ith ful secretary

,M iss M . J . L . Black .

THUNDER BAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Th e En terprise M in eNOTE S F ROM THE ROYAL C OMMISS ION’S RE PORT

Thi s" property consists of Lot 0, inthe Township of M cTav ish , in theDistrict of Thunder Bay, in the Province of Ontario, and contains fourh undred (400) acres , less the right-oi,way of the C anadian North ern

‘

R ail

way , which passes t hrough it .

The,

property‘

was discovered in May.1 865 , and a shaft was vsu nk to adepth

“of about 200 feet . The fol

lowing particulars are taken from theOntario Governm ent R eport :

“R eport

of t h e’

Royal C ommiss ion , Mineral R er

Sources of Ont ario“In May , 1 865 , Messrs . Peter andDonald M

'

cK el lar discovered an important vein Of galena cutting t h e indurat ed red marl of this (Nepigon )formation at a place about three mileswest of Black Bay , in what is n ow

called the Township of M cTav iSh . Theproperty has been success ively named ,Th e North Sh ore,

”“Lead Hill s ,” and

Enterprise Mine .

”The vein run s aboutnorth

_

60‘

degrees east, a n d the r ed

marl i s here as sociated with greysandstone ; but revd granite , which islargely developed in this region , risesas a low bluff abou t 300 yard S

'

to then orth of it and was encountered at amoderate depth in working the vein .

The gangue is_ quartz , calcspar and

barytes , and the total width of the

vein is from s ix to eight feet , of

which f rom three to four feet consisted for some dis tance of solid galena ,with a little copper -pyri

vtes and veinmatter . The

“mine was worked for

on e y ear, and a considerable quantityof rich . ore ‘was s h ipped

'

to t h e UnitedS tat es . According t o as says made byProf . C hapman it c ontained an average“of worth of gold , and $ 2 worth of

s ilver t o the ton .

”

The same report, at Page 1 47 , alsorefers to this property :Borron—Lead is not as frequently metwith on Lake Superior or Lake Huronas copper . The m ost fiprom isin g veinI have seen on either lake was th at atBlack Bay already alluded to as t h eon e in which Prof , C hapman foun d th efirst gold . Thi s was afterwards call

“Mr. E . B .

“ Attached hereto i s am emorandumof assays made on b ehalf of the part ies th en interested in t h e property .

This property is situated on t h e

C anadian Northern R ailway, about 35miles east of Port Arthur. Th e ore

could be shipped to Port A rthur byrail , and there transferred to

'

s-team

ed the E nterprise Mine, an d work wascommenced upon it shortly before Iresign ed my position as mining in

spector . From Mr . B lue’

s descriptivecatalogue of the mineral exhibit Ofthe Province (Ontario) at

'

C in cin vn at i ,page 29 , I see that a sh aft has beensunk to a depth of over 200 feet , andsome 200 tons of ore taken ou t , butthat it did n ot pay on account of t h eore having to be s ent t o Swansea tobe smelted , and that - in consequenceoperations suspended about 1 2 yearsag o.

”

The Ontario Bureau of Mines report ,1 916, Part I I , Page 1 5 , refers to t hi sproperty thus :

“A rich vein of. lead

ore occurs in a"

pale red induratedmarl . Prof . C hapman says of it :

‘Thevein consists of a gangue of quarts ,with enc losed portions of wall-rock ,

and some. heavy spar, etc . , carrying avery st rong lode of intermixed Oopper pyrites and galena . The vein i t

self appears t o average about tenfeet in Width ; but at present it is toa great extent uncovered .

. The cop

per pyrites and galena , although scat. tered more or less throughout thevein , run princ ipally in a solid lode .of at leas t four feet in m w id th“ Thecourse of t h e vein is about N . 65 de»

grees E . ; and so far as this can bedetermined in the pres ent undeveloped St ate of the vein , t h e .d ip , or underlie , _

is toward -s t h e southeast , at anangle of about 80 degrees .

’

In on e

sample , he found and in anotherper cent of copper . On e of

these samples a lso yield-ed 47 . 5 6 per

cent . of lead . Another gaVe percent . Of lead , nearly on e ounce of

s ilver, and half an ounce of gold to

the ton of lead .

14 THUNDER BAY HISTOR ICAL SOCIETYers for shipment to refineries i n On

tario or E ngland .

Dated at .Port Arthur , this 1 9th day

of February, AD . 1 91 8 .

(C OPY )Assays F rom M in in g Locat ion C .

Tow ns h ip of McTav is h , D is t rictof T h u n d er Bay

Newark smelt ing Refi ning Works-C ert ifi cat e of Assay , E d . Balb ach

Son, 22 5 R iver street , corner VanBuren street .

Newark , N . J . , Aug . 1 1 , 1 885 .

'

Mr. Geo. R . Wallace , Port Huron ,Michigan :Dear S ir z—We have assayed - thesample of ore marked Algoma , received . August 6t h and find it to contain 1oz . s ilver per ton of lbs ;per cent . lead . Yours truly,

E D . BALBAC H SON ,

Per H . M . Duft en .

From th e same fi rm "

Mr . Geo. R . Wal lace , Port Huron ,Michig an :Dear S ir t—We have assayed the

sample of ore marked E nterprise , r eceiv ed August 6t h , and find it to con

mm : 8 10 (18 ) oz . silver per ton of 2 ,000 pounds ; per cent . lead ;per cent . copper . Yours truly ,

E D BALBAC H SON ,

Per H . M . Du ffen .

C hicago Smelt ing R efiin in g C om

pany—Works , corner C lark and 4oth

st reets . General off-ices No . 1 1 4 Dearb orn street . Abner “

B . Thomas , President ; Barton Sewell , S ecretary-Treasu rer.

C ert ificat e of AssayC hicago, Aug . 1 1 th , 1 885 .

This is to certify tha t I have carefully assayed

"

for gold , s ilver , lead , cop

per, the sample of“ore depos ited by

C E O . R . WALLAC E , and marked E ut erprise (office No. 22 5 2) and havefound the same to cont ain to the tonof two thousand pounds : gold , .1 oz .

(1 -10) (valued at per sil

ver , l ead , 34 per cent ; copper ,

per :cent .GE O. T .

" DOUGHE RTY ,

Assayer .

From C hicago Smelting and R efi n

ing C ompany .

C ert ifi cat e of AssayThis is to certify that I have care

GE O. T . DOUGHERTY ,

Assayer .

(S eal ) .

C hemical Laboratory and TechnicalMin ing S chool . J . L . Phillips , 2 5

S tate street , New York , C onsultingE ngineer , E xaminer of Mines , MineralAssayer and Metallurgist . In practice .

43 years .

New York , April 7 t h , 1884 .

As say certificate for GE O.-R . WAL

LAC E , North . S h ore ' Lake Superior ,Ontario—Location C . R esult s of fi re

assay : Lead , per cent ; S ilver ,per ton .

J . L . PH ILLIPS .

fully assayed for gold , s ilver, lead , thesample of ore deposited by GE O . R .

WALLAC E , and marked Algoma(Ofi ice No. 22 5 1 ) and have found thes ame to cont ain to the ton -

o ,f“2 000po zun d s Gold , . 1 (1 10) oz . (valued at

per oz . ) Lead 28 percent .

New York Metallurgical Works104 and 106Washington street ; E . N .

-R iott e , Manager, Mining E ngineer an dMetallurgist .

New York , S eptember 9th , 1 885 .

Memorandum,

of Assay of Ore,

marked Albion , for Geo. R . Wallace,

E sq.

Test .oi low -grade ore—assayed fer

gold and silver .

Office No. showed trace of goldand silver , per cent . of lead . Goldvalue per t on o f concentration of

above showed (office No. 5 788)Lead , per ton , 80 per cent . Veryrespectfully ,The New York Metallurgical Works ,

E . N . R iotte , Manager .

Off ice of G. A . Mariner , AnalyticalC hemist and Assayer , 81 South C larkstreet , R ooms 49 , 5 1 and 5 5 .

C hicago,

-I ll . , Aug . 24 , 1 883 .

,This certifies that I have assay

ed for GEO. R . WALLAC E , a sp ecimen of ore marked Lady Mary , forgold , silver and copper , with the following result , per lbs S ilver ,

oz . , value p er ton gold ,traces found ; copper , per cent . .

(Not assayed for lead ) .

G . A . MAR INE R ,

Analytical C hemist and Assayer .

THUNDER BAY HISTORICAL S OCIETY 1 5

E arly Min in gBY MR . P E TE R McK E LLAR

‘

A paper b y Peter M cK el lar regarding cert ain matt ers relating t o earlym ining d iscoverie s on Lake S uperior ,more especially in the District of

Thu nder "

Bay :

Man y of th e incidents herein re

ferred to would be lost to h istory ifnot rewcord ed by M cK ellar brothers .These reports can be relied on as

b eing practically correct, as same areconfirmed b y writ ten statement s ;In the early eighteen-s ixties t here

were n o real mining developmen ts b eing carried on on the north shore OfLake S uperior , -but man y years pre

v ious , in about 1 84 5 there wereextensive mining’

transact ion s beingcond uc ted on t h e C an adian s id e of

the Lake .. Native copper mining was

flouri shing about th at"

time on t h e

American s ide .

-In 1 84 5 , as i s shown '

b y S ir Wm .

Logan , the Prince’

s/

Bay M in-in g C om

pany started -mining Operations on

Spar Is land, west . of Thunder Bay .

The vein was a spar vein con tain ingcopper glan ce ore, with , in p laces , aconsid erabl e showing of

"

native"

an d

Silver glance . A few shafts an d d rift swere min ed an d a large block of l and ,

measuring about two by five miles ,and cont aining ab out acres , -was

purchased , but mining op eration ssoon ceased .

About that time , being i n t h e years1 84 5 and 1 846, certain Montreal capital is t s formed a company . Thi sCompany e ng aged Prof . F orrest Shep

pard , with a large party, in th e springOf 1 846 (about the time t h e Prince

’sMine wa s working) , t o explore an d

locate mining lan ds on Lake Huronan d Lake Su periOr; During th e ,

summ er they had locat ed some eight eenblocks of land along the coast—theJarvis and Si lver Is lan d locations ihcluded—each b lo-ck

'

bein g about two

above is quotedb y five miles .

from Mining on th e North Sh ore of

Lake Superior, 1 874 . )"

e

These great a reas of min ing land -s ,

like'

t h-ose‘

Of t h e P rince’s Bay land s ,

were”

allowed to l ie un dev eIOped ,

~ free

pos its

from even government taxes for abouttwent y years , or until after t h e Thunder Bay si lver mine was discoveredby the M cK el lar b rothers in 1 866.

Th e richne ss of t h e ore of the newdiscovery c reated an unusual amountof excit emen t on b oth side s of t h e

int ernationa l line . Premier JohnSan dfield .MacDon al-d at

“the next ses

sion -oi p arliament of the provincialgovernment of “Ontario, passed a n actlevying ten per cen t . royalty on s ilver.

Prospect -ors an d m ining capitali st stook g reat except ion t o this an d theysu e-ceed ed in creating a furore in an d

ou t of parl iament , so that th e government . final ly decided t o go in a body ,

as many members as poss ible , to FortWilliam an d investiga te t h e silver d e

t hemselves , an d find out

whether it would or wou ld n ot_

justifythe continuat ion of th e royalt y .

Mr. Ri chards , t h e commissioner of

public works , was appoint ed chief, andthe

“

b eautiful s t eamer“C hicora” was

en gaged for the exped ition . I judgethat fro-m s ixty to s eventytook adv an tage of t his trip . Theweather was beaut iful an d t h e memb ers -of t h e party pl ayed aroun d on

the Fort Wi lliam green l ike’*kid-s .

After a boat sail an d tramp of

about two miles ov er a bush trail , theparty arrived at the s ilver mine . Ibeing th e disc-Ov erer and in chargeat the time , there were many questions asked o f me reg arding same .

After examination an d consultation ,the members as well as the commiss ion er came to

_ the Con clusion t hatthe industry was an uncert ain quantity

,althoug h the ore lenses were u n

usua lly rich , being tw-o to t hree thous and do l lars to the t ion . They wereirregu lar in size an d quan tity throughthe quartz vein s-ton e , as w e pointed‘

ou t . to th e commiss ioner .

“T hes e: rich b onanza ores , hitherto

unknown in th i s country, b ecam e comm on in

'

t he later discovered mine s , asin the case of the S ilv er Isle t, theBeaver, the Badg er Mines , etc .

16 THUNDER BAY HISTORICAL SOCIETYWe also explaine d that t h e development of t hese mines d epen ded ch ief

ly upon _American capi tal , an d that

th e Americans,

h ad a strong ant ipat hy

to royalty, and w ould have nothing -to

do wit h it .Mr. R ichards s t ated that there werelarge t racts o f lan d own ed by privat e

part ies in this country an d t h e go-v

ernm en t was receiving n ot hing from

t hem an d must get a revenue t o'

h e-lp

developm ents . The governmen t could

see n o way of get ting t his reven ue ex

cept .by means of a royal ty .

A short time later I inqui red fromt h e commi ss ion er why t h e governmentdid n ot tax t h e

'

lan d t h e same‘

as theAmerican au thorities did , where-uponhe exp la ined that t h e lands h ad been

s old -

_

Ou t an d could n ot lawfully betaxed . Pe rsona lly I could n ot

'

u n d er

st and wh y t h e g ov ernmen t could n ot“

tax any p riva te lan ds . T h e comm issioner in quired from m e a s to t h e

m ethod of taxation on the American

s ide ,’

an d I informed h im that the

t ax w as two“cents an acre on all pri

vat e OWn e-d wild lan ds .

T h e commi ssioner d i d n ot intimate

What wou ld be done in the m atter , butat t h e fol low ing sess ion o f parliamen t

th e roya lty wa s resc in d-cd an d replac

ed with a tax of two cen ts an acre

on all private own ed wild'

lands .

The min e s pros pered afterwards an d

many n ew s ilver mines were opened

u p in the d as the S h u n iah ,

.S ilver Harbor, 3-A, an d t h e famou s

S ilver Is le t mine , etc . This consti

gt u ted the second mining boom .

More informat ion regard ing minin g

act iv itie s . in Thunder Bay, from t h e“b eginnin g of mining on Lake S t i perior

up .to 1 874 , will be found in the Pam ph

let,

“Minin g .on th e North Shore of

Lake S up erior, 1 874 , b y Peter Mc

Kellar . I will be p lea sed to pres enta copy o f t his pamphlet to the

“

Se

ciet y .

To go back to the early part of theeighteen-sixt ie s , prev iously referred to,

there was n o practical mining

be ing done in Thunder Bay .

‘The M cE ach ern brother s (Duncan,Malcolm

'

and E dward) , E dward beingbett er kn own as

“Ned Du ncan t h e

noted native copper prospector of theSouth S hore of Lake Superior . He

‘

h ad been for a t ime p rosperous b u t

eventually failed He moved across

th e \ la'ke to Thun der B ay w ith h is

brothers t o try an d retrieve . hi s lostfortune . The McEach ern b rot herscon tin ued thei r prospecting alongThun der Bay an d Black Bay for twoor three years with very slight succes s . They m ined many pi t s p n th efissure veins in the - locality and d is

covered a large mass o f g alene ore

(about two t on s in weig ht in t h e

car'

ibo-o vein in t h e winter .oi 1 863 ,about two

'

miles west of Granite Po intan d Black Bay .

Th e fissure vein s aroun d ThunderB ay an d . Black Bay carry in plac esbeaut iful amethysts in the v -ogs . Aboutthe year 1 862 t h e McE ach ern brot hersmin ed ab ou t two ton s of amethystsand loaded them in to their little v es

s-ei in t h e f all and took them bywater t o Toronto wh ere they tied up

to th e wharf for t h e winter and ped

dl-cd their samp les a roun d the city .

Toronto at that time was small , andit i s reported that t h e amethyst - in

d us try was a marked feature on thatoccasion , an d . th a t th e ven dors spentth e money regardles s of valu e :Dr . Marot t o f . M 'on tr-eal shipped

a b out two tons of t h e Thund er Bayame thyst-s to the Montreal marketabout t hree or f our years later wit hgood results . S inc e that t ime theamet hy st bus in ess h a s been d ormant .

Of’

course,

. t-h e ame thysts are not

worked ou t at the present tim e , andnever will . b e, but as t hey are fol low

ed down in the vein fissures theircos t increases . The surface samp leswere mostly all loose in t h e v og s and

inexpens ive t o m ine .

In the sprin g’

of 1 865 my brother,Donald , an d myself w ere prospect ingfor mines On the west s ide of B lackBay w hen we d i scovered-i th e famous

Black Bay Bonanza , E nterprise Mine ,which after a pa rtia l . d evelopm ent Wesold t o M en dl ebaum and C ompanyfor oi

_

whi ch was pa idto J udge R . K . Tu rner for a p rior

claim .

The compan y sun k apd-cep shaft and

stoped hundreds of t on s oi ore . Theyalso b uilt a s ev en-m i le t ramway from

the {mine -to -

_Black Bay . Th e company

shipped about two hundred tons of oneto S wansea for treatment . I was informed by

“Mr . Kin g-smi l l , the com

pan y’

s solici tor , t h at'

tfh e fi rst shipm en t to Swan s-ea y ield ed $ 5 3 per ton ,

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

but a later shipment on ly yield ed $ 1 8

per ton ; b e th at as it m ay , min ing op

erat ions c eased th e fol lowing s eason .

An an alysi s by Prof . E . J . C h apmangave the bonanza ore , lead 47 per

cent , copper per cent, an d t h e

copper ore ri b on the wa l l yielded 2 1

per c ent . "

of C opper , averagin g about

$1 7 gol d and $4 s ilver t o the ton .

These veins intersect the induratedmarls and san dston es of t h e N ipi g

-ou

or K eewan ean R ocks , as well as ot herunderlyin g rocks .

After the d is -coVery of t h e En te rpri se bonanza , we , the M c

-Kellar,b ro

th ers , extended our explora t ions westward from Black Bay t o, an d p ast,Si lver Lake and Loon Lake .

On t hat occasion , in 1 865 , we d iscovered the we ll kn own hem atite i rondeposi t s immedi ately west of S ilverLake . This ore occurs in fla t bed sof irregular thickn esses wi th varyin gpercentages of i ron . The rich la-yers

yi eld as high as 68 per cent . to 69 percent . of i ron practically ‘free from

'

deleterious elemen t-s . These ore bedsoccupy a pos it ion near the base of

the An im ikie forma tion and wi ll ,un dou b tedly , b e uncovered by miningin many other place s

_ between LoonLake an d Thund er Bay! A few of

these depos i ts near the Bay have beenfound , purchased , an d are being heldfor future d evelopmen t .In th e sm elting o-t . t he Atik-okan and

other magnetic ore s these S i lver Lakehem-

at ites will be valu able a ssociates .

After the di scovery of the iron wemade s evera l minin g t ests of t h e de

pos its an d in 1 880 sold t h e sou th-west225 acres of Locat ion No . 1 to someBuffalo and C hicago capitalist s for

th e sum of In 1 905 ,‘2-5 y ears

lat er, we sold the other ha lf of t h e

location for a similar su m of

About t h e t ime we d is covered theiron depos it-s we found s par vein scarryin g a p romising sh owing of the

ores of copper , lead an d z inc , lying toth e

‘

sou th an d east of S ilver Lake . Atth at t ime t hese metals were com parat iv ely low in price , not more than on e

third of what they‘

are worth t oday._

We examin ed t hese vein s carefullyand open ed a f ew p its on t hem . We

also su n k a shaft 16 feet d eep on vein .

No. A,_

on Loca tion No. 2 , Herri ck’

s

survey . From t he showing we decided t hat t h e pu rchase of thes e d epos it swould b e

"

a safe investment although

it would probably take s ome years t ocome in .

These lead an d zinc veins of S ilverLake , Black Bay an d Dorion Townshipbelon g to a series of fissu re veins t hatare connected with the Great GeologicFault of S ilver Lake . I believe alsothat in this serie s of fis su re s are f ou n dthe only real Thunder Bay amethystveins of t h e cou n try. It is only in theportions of these fissures that intersect the g ranitic or silicious rocksthat you . may look for ame thys ts . Of

course it is known t h at t hese fissuresas well as other t rue fissu re s intersec t al l rock formations alike , as

S ilicious , C aeariou s , etc .

I have seen many of thes e fissureveins in the localities ab ove mentioned, namely Si lver Lake , B lack Bayan d Dori on Township . They in v ari

ably show more or less of the ores oflead , z inc, copper an d iron . No doubtthere are many of the exposed' veinsthat I have n ot seen , an d many moreunder cover. It seems certain thatvaluable mines will be dis covered an d

worked among these veins . The E uterprise bonan za ore lode an d also

th e C aribou lead bonanza above ment ion ed belon g to th em .

These min es were worked abou t 5 0

years ago when the metals were extrem ely low in v alue , and may y et

be developed profi tab ly ._I noticed

that th e S ilver Lake ore-s , as t hose inNo . A . vein , are much more regularlydistributed throu gh

‘

t h e whole vein

ston e t han those in the E n terpris eand C aribou veins and , I think , will.prove a much more valuable millin gore.

It wil l ‘be n ot-iced that I have given ,

in a few inst ances , t h e price paid formining locations , to give t h e readersome idea of the character o f the d e

posits .

The above are only a few of th e

prominent inc idents and cond itionsrelating to the firs t and“second m in

in g booms in t h e d i st rict of‘

Thunder

_

B ay Which reach up to about 1 870.

H erein I do not touch on the third silver boom

_

of the eighteen-eightie s , asthe Beaver, Badger, Sil ver Mount ain ,etc. ; n or of t h e gold boom as the Huron ian , Em press an d Lake of th e

Woods mine-s ; n or of t h e other_mines

as the Sulphur,‘

Northern Pyritesmine ; n or of the Atikokan Iron mine .

PE TE IR M cK E LLAR .

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20 THUNDER BAY HISTORIC AL SOC IE TY

Rifles . It i s their s tory_

of th e Apri lb attle of Ypres . The full descriptionwill be poss ible only when th'e narratiy es

‘

of its indivi dual members arewoven into fabric ; when all

‘

of thevery many incidents of valor of

ofi icers an d'

m en are cel lated , i t willbe possible to make the history

'

of

that ba ttle , as the E ighth fought it ,complete . T hese wi ll take time to

gather an d“they -will fi ll a

'

volume .

.Th ey will tell h ow each . unit did its

v aliant work—h ow sections an d plato'on s fought under impos sible conditions ; h ow the wounded Were tended ;h ow. ammuni tion an d food were pro

v ided ; h ow th e machin e gun section“

stayed to the en d ; h ow the C om

mander, Lt .-C ol . L . J . Lipsett , set avalorous exam ple , an d h ow h e wasably fol lowed by all hi s officers ; h owthe tran sport ran the gauntlet of

death through Ypres during th e terrorof its destruction b y shell an d fire ;h ow the signa llers

‘

were practicallywi ped ou t repairing communicatingtelephones ; h ow th e scouts kept touchwi th the enemy and his . m ovements ;h ow th e base s t ores were saved fromYpres ; h ow m any decided to s tay Wi ththe wounded when headquarters wastaken by

"

the enem y . It i s a noble andstirring story and c laims a lead in

the battalion’s history for April .

Leaving rest billets at Gad sw aer

velde on Wednesday , Apri l 14 th , thebattalion was carried On

‘

convertedLondon buses to Vlamertinghe and .

from t here -walked through statelyYpres , reaching the trenches past S t .

Julien the'

_

-sam e even ing ,

part of a“French Division .

. Th e defences were light earthWorks, as th e continued firing had

precluded construction Immediately,however , efforts Were put into effect

to improve the locality and the goodtraining at other portions of the linewere of n o avail . Forty-eight hourswere spent in the trenches when th ebattal ion was brought back for two

days ’ rest in barns near the famousYser C anal . On April 1 9th

_the E ighthreturned

“to the firing line . Smith

Dorrien’

s words were true,The en

em y here was always b usy, con se

quently companies were“constantly on

th e qu i-vive . On this occasion"

Number On e C ompany took left position ,Number Two in centre , and Number

relieving

Four on right . Th ird C ompany was inreserv e

_ about three hundred yardsback an d at battal ion headquarters .

Developments commenced immed iately .

"

The enemy was especiallyactive w ith trench mortars part icu

larl y , known,

as Black Marias .

” Indaytime these shells could be detectedin flight, and in a measure avoided .

Shrapnel cam e thicker than usual . ~ It_ was a pparent that t h e . Germans wereworking on a ‘movement . It is n ow

known that the actual attack was on

program for April 1 9t h , but unfavorab le W inds prevented the u se of th

‘

egas upon which they relied . Shellingincreased in intensity and the b at

talion stood to all through the 20th

and 21 st with only slight snatches. of

s leep, an d even these were disturbed

b y frequen t alarms . All throughthe se hours of tension the battalionwas industrious in adding to the defences . There ' were . n o traversesexi sting an d they were commenced in

order to“provide protection against

en fi lad e'

fi ne. However imperfectlyfinished they later served in somemeasure to help the battalion durin glater stre ss . Trench bombardmentincreas ed in ferocity on the 2zu d and

th e battalion s uffered the los s of C aptain Burton , C aptain Weld and Lieut .Raddal l , wounded . C ount kept by

som e of the m en places the number

of sh ell s at'

260 in tw o hours . Thatattacks were being pu shed on the left

Was known by the continued rifle fire .

Anxious and alert the 9oth s tood to

arms all tha t night . At“in the

morning - of the -24th the Germans

Were observed to release quantities ofheavy

,yellowish gas opposite the

trench occupied by Num ber On e C om

pany . It s tol e ou t mysteriouslytowards the Third Brigade lines and

th e lines of the E ighth battalion .

What was this vapor ? Th e bat. talion was soon to kn ow . This was anew .

“and devil ish war d ev ice . It was

Wafted into th e E ighth trenches , andmany

_ gallant fellows , unable tobreathe , sank down in

f

s tu por f romwhich many never roused . Only thestron g-er men mann ed the parapets .

As th e breeze was playing directly intothe trenches the effect was paralyzing

.

Unfortunate Highlanders were f orcedb ack b y th i s fearful pa ll , an d withthe retirement of friends from theleft the E ighth found itse lf in danger

THUNDE Ri

BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

of being surrounded . Germans , quickto see the

;advantage , delivered an

attack on the front line , at the sametime sending a big force off

_

to theleft , which opened a fearful enfi lad e

fire on the leading com pany . S imultan eou s ly they were observed to bringou t heavy reinforcements from a woodabout opposite to Number Four C om

pan y.

These various developments weredealt with by the E ighth adm irablyand w ith such good effect that themovement

~’

of envelopment and eu

d eav or to break into the opening on

the left were d efeated . Sufferingfrom fumes as they were , the gallantNinetieth delivered a withering fire onthe front in terms -of

_continued orders

for“Five rounds rap id .

” Machine

g un s‘

at the sam e time'

sprayed'

deathon the reinforcements '

com ing fromthe wood , and Number On e C ompany,w ith it s tren ch es cu t and levell ed b ythe shell fire which - still played , dealt u

with the env eloping m ov em en t to theleft :

R einforcements were in great demand as the ranks were sadly thinnedby this i tm e. Germ ans k new-

git too

because t heir batteries threw aflcurtain of shrapnel direc tly behind thelines . Help , t o reach the tren ches,must pas s w t h rough the teeth o f i t .

Lieut .-C ol . Lipsett de livered - theorder for Num ber Three C ompany to

advance . C aptain Bertram an d Lieut .O

’

Grady with two platoons fromH . Q. , C aptain Morley with his twoplatoons f rom » reserve billets ,

‘

thereupon formed their litt le force i nto platoons . Then , calling for extended or

der '

h e waved h is hand forward in theunderstood signal

- for advance . Itwas like a parade ; it was—,

an- inspira

tion . In perfect order t h e platoons extended and ,

’

led by their comm ander ,headed int o the curtain of lead b e

yond which their comrades lay . Th e

boys commenced to fall s lipping downhere and there it didn

’t seem real thatthey were hurt.

“There was never a

groan from t hem , never a complaint ;moreover, the advancing line waver

.

ed n ot an in ch , b u t pre’

ssed resolu t ely forward and - reinforced Number on eand part of Number two company Itwas seen that considerable advan tage .

could b e -gained by occupying a trenchsection evacuated by t h e H ighlandersand over th ere C apta in Morley sent

L ieu t .

~ M cLeod with some of his m en .

This,

met . a -move'

by the enemy . inoccupying a piece of trench still further to the left , from _

which they haddelivered an effective en fi lade fire .

Now the Germans massed attentionon driving away the E ight h battalion ,

which was the only obstacle in theway of a very extensive advancewhich might have given Ypres itself

to the attackers . I t was at this particu lar juncture , when exhausted menfoug h t against we

-arin ess , poison , shell

and an enemy outnumbering the littlegarrison fi v e to on e , that a,

query camefrom headquarters asking h ow

’

the90t h was faring , and if the position

could b e maintained . Lieut .-‘

C ol . Lip

sett consulted h is company commanders , saw h i s bat-talion standing to

arms , eyes heavy , l ips cracked , b odies racked , but in spirit unconquerable

-h is response , epigrammatically sug

g est iv e, was :

Th e N inet iet h C an Ho ld It s Bit

Th e ’ figh t waged on .

- Attacks W eresix t imes hurled back , and w hen darkness - fell t h e t renches were asshambles.

“But t h e-y were a

- succes sful bar ' to enemy qadv ance . Just b efore the sun sunk and died , a fi nal effort was made to

'

overcome the position .

«

_

T h e G ermans clambered over

their trenches , and with nervous li ttlecries grouped themselves for acharge . Fire was reserved from theE ighth pos ition unt il its effect wouldbe most deadly at short range . Abugle blurted .

,

W ith cries of“Neuve

C h apelle , Neu v e C h apel le, the greycla d figures came forward many deep .

Then the - 9ot h cu t, _

in t o,t h em with

,a

low fire , every bullet must have .gonehome . The masses broke once againand fled back . Had they continued

(

for

ward ' t h ey would have met a line of

fixed bayonets ." C anadian ofi icial eye-w itness , des

cribing th e course of events,in a des

patch deliv ered shortly after t h e battleh as t his to say :

.Oh Sunday afternoon , he (meaning

,t h e S econd Brigade C ommander ,

"

General C urry ) , had n ot abandonedhis , t renches , There were none left :

They had been obliterated b y ,art il

lery . In such a brigade it is invidi'

ousto s ing l e ou t an y bat talion f or special

praise , but it is perhaps necessary tot h e story that Lieu t .-C o l. Lipsett ,com

22 THUNDER BAY H ISTORIC AL S OC IE TY

m an d ing t h e 90t h Win n ipeg Rifles , 8t hBat talion of t h e S econ d Brigade, h e ldt h e ext rem e lef t of t h e pos it ion at t h e

m os t crit ical m om en t .“The b at talion -was expelled fromthe trenches early on Friday morningby an em i ss ion of poi sonous gas , butrecovering in three-quarters of anhour, it counter-attacked , ret-ook thetrenches it

'

h ad abandoned , and b ayo

'

netea t h e enemy . And after theThird Brigade had been forced to re

tire , -Lieut .-C ol . Lip sett held h is position , th o-ugh his left was in the air,

until two British regiments fi lled upthe gap on Saturday night .

”

It i s here positively stated with fullproof, t hat the E ighth battalion didnot give up i t s tren ches to t h e enemy .

On Sunday the shru nken force was ordered to retire , when it s place wastaken over by a British Territorialregiment . Acting under

_

orders the

battered Ninetieth wit hdrew what remained of Numbe rs On e , Two andThree companies . They had been re

l iev ed . It was n ow daylight and number Four C Om pan

-

y could n ot be re

l iev ed a n d held its ground and con

t inu ed'

t h e fight all'

day Sunday untildeserted by the battalion on its. rightand left, un til surrounded and cu t

down by the enemy . C aptain Nor-t hwood , Lieu t s . Frank Andrews , LloydOwen a n d Bell were alive and u n

wounded when surrounded at duskon that eventful Sunday and we hav eevery -reason to suppos e t hey are n ow

prisoners in the h ands of th e Ger

mans . It i s stated that C aptain Northwood , seeing the imposs ibility of h isretaining t h e r tren ch es any longer, andknowing that an attempt t o retreatwould bring annihilation t o his com

mand , told his men t hat surrenderwas in evit able and said that an y on e

wh o wis hed t o t ake the fearful riskof attempting escape could d o so . Twoof his plat oons , under

l

serg t . n ow

Lieut . K n ob el l , w h o were in a specially favorable place , got away withheavy los ses , but the gallan t Northwood and his officers stayed with their-men

'

to the last .

S eeing his position , Li eut .-C ol . Lipset t

'

wen t ahead of 'his withdrawnforce t o view the ground , and Whenhe came back , a shrapnel hole throughh is cap , airily swin ging the inevit ablecane , thi s i s what he h ad to say :

Boys , I think if we move up to thefront

,

again we can lick those fellowsah ead f

’

At th i s time t h e survivors of thebattle , hungry , sleepy, hardly able to

drag a leg or l ift a gun , were lying ina turnip field , machine gun an d riflefi re clipping oh veget ation and creating a sighing breeze that spelleddeath or maiming for those wh o daredto lift a head .

Bu t t h e gallant lads stood up andfollowing their C olonel a n d officersprepared to try and regain their old

position . In excellent order the mutilated battalion advanced but found theenemy entrenched in such num bersthat t o take back the original line was

impos sible . Therefore , the 9oth dug‘

itself in a short dis tance behind original headquarters depot , which was aruined farmhouse ) Th

‘

e cellar hasbeen used as reg imental office andheadquarters sleeping place . It washere that , S ergean t-Major W . M . Rob

ert son came by severe wounds . Ashrapnel , landing square in the house ,in fl icted . su ch severe hurts to armsand legs that his rem ov al

'

was im

possible . Tenderly he was bound andcarried below to where a number ofwounded from all battalions were b e

ing cared for.

‘Major W . A . Munro d es

crib ed the cellar as being full of

wounded and s ick and the h eadquarters staff was kept busy giv ing emergeney -

ai d . When the battalion wasordered back , after t h e Territ ials

had come up in relief , headquarterswas abandoned . The wounded couldn ot be carri ed and it i s a noteworthyinstance of devotion that S ergean tBovell and Private W . A . C urrie

‘

re

mained behind in that cellar to con

t in u e attention on the wounded . Pri

vate_

Georg e‘ Topp too, w h o had always

been servant to S ergeant Major Robert son ,

refused to leave his master .

Al l'

fel l into German hands . MajorK ircal dy , Adjutant, wh i le d irect in g re

in forcem en t s, had also been st ruckdown , but although carrying a severeshrapnel wound in the chest, walked

to Poperingh e for at tention . He set

a splendid example of coolness under

fire . Major Mot h ersel l’

s work as regimental doctor, stands ou t luminously .

Deliberate , as always ,“he went among

the wounded , even ou t in advance of

the trenches , and was ministering in

THUNDER BAY H ISTOR IC AL S OC IE TY

defat i-gab ly , reckless of his own l ife .

Finally, a trench m ortar s ent Over aShell t hat dropped near t h e faithfulsurge-ou . It threw him in the air andcaused injuries of the spine . He wasremoved to hospital by h is assistants .

When on the Wednesday the battalion was withdrawn to reserve billets

a short distance ou t of Ypres , afterthe days of continuous fighting , n o

rest was available . Fiendishly, shellsfollowed the weary troops . Small wonder huts were regret fully abandoned

an d trench tools brought to play .

“Andin li ttle cellars word was awaited forthe move , an expected and longed formove , to a res t place where there weren o shells and where i t would -b e possible t o recuperate in health an d

nerve force . ,But it '

was n ot until e ightdays a fterwards that this order came .

The reaction -was keen . F rom‘

thehighest excitement t h e world affords-7 stalking human game—to rest '

andquiet thought , had an efi ect of bringing home the losses that had been suffered . But they were offered up to

a noble cause with willing sacrifice .

To make speci al mention of part icu

lar ins tances of bravery and dev ot ionis to give a start to the collection of

the very many stories describing the'

deeds of"the gall-ant N in et iet h on th e

Ypres field of battle . With these stories will be supp lied a map of thebattle ground , so that , in future days ,visitors from C anada , with a deepheart int erest in the b lo -od soakedYpres distric t , may go from place to

f

place described , an d be reminded of

the deeds performed by their sons inthe mem orable April of i 91 5 .

The machine gun section played amost conspicuous . part in the series ofengagements an d the severity of i t s

los s es must indicate th e mann er Of

its performance . Sev en m en mustered ou t of the forty t hat entered thetrenches ,

‘

when the companies , wit hthe exception of number four, were rel iev ed of duty by t h e Territorials . The

machine gun section had to remain b ehind on duty as the incoming

"reinforcements were not provided with .

guns . The deadly effect of their operat ion can be judg ed from t h e factth at in all cases t h e h eaps of .

deadGermans before the trenches prevent

23

ed t h e -guns f rom traversin g . Ser

geant Aldrit t , number four company ,worked h is machin e with such deadlysucces s that th e ' corpses piled sixdeep

.before him . He was alone at

t h e gun . H is a ss istants were killed .

When prepared ammunition gave ou t

h e filled the belts himself, and then ,

with an earnest calm , continued to

shoot into the massed enemy ranks .

The last that was seen of him was anh er

'

oic’

fi gu re, half smothered in poi

son fumes , aut omatically pumpingaway, ou duty t o the last . It was u nderstood that S ergeant Aldr

‘

it t , b e

cause of his special abilities , was toh ave been granted a commission ,

andhas been recommended for a V . 0.

Another splendid example of heroism under fire is furnished in the caseof S erge-ant Major F . Hal

'

l , \ot number th ree company . A wounded m an ,

n ot of his own regiment , lay in frontof the trenches . He was calling for

help , waving his arm feebly . S er

geant Major Hall , knowing that several unsucces sful attempts h ad already

been made to bring the man in , andknowing the Germans t o h ave markedth e spot , went calmly ou t . He nevercame back. Previously his presenceand examp le h ad been an inspirationto the company. S ergeant Major Hall ,too, , h ad been chosen

“for a commis

s ion .

.Then'

there is the story ‘

of S ergeant

“Joe S impson , orderly room c lerk . He

was at Brigade headquarters with messages . There at the sam e t ime was

the General In charge of Counter attacks . He wanted important despatches , carrying instructions dealingwith the immedi ate sit uation , d elivered .to a number of battalion commanders along the lines . Turning to theS ergeant he a sked him if h e wouldtake ou t a patrol . Sure he would . TheS ergeant d idn

’

t e xact ly know what apa trol was , but he listened to in s tru ctions , and grasped the importance of

his miss ion . He was given four menas as sistants . The despatches werecarried in his left breast pocket and

“in

the event of h i s d eath or woun ding the

men were inst ructed t o take the palpers and proceed . In the first h alfhour a she

'

ll struck near t h e messenger and knocked him against a tree ,breaking a rib an d severing some

24 THUNDER BAY HISTOR ICAL SOC IETY

m uscles in his left s ide , but h e got

up and kept ahead . It took twentyfour hours to del iver thos

‘

e despatches . In that time h e h ad no food or

s leep , .and it must b e con sidered t hat

for t h ree days previous h e had hadlittle of either . On h is return , reporting su'

ccess , it is related that the Genéral looked up

‘

in surprise—g rat ifi edsurprise . He hadn

’

t expec'ted

h

to seeth e sergeant b ack again , so d ifi icu lt

an d dangerous was the commission .

Th e relation of these incidents willbe continued another time , as th ey arebrought forth from the natural re

serve Of the gallant members of theNinetieth . This history for April willn ow deal with the provisioning Of thetroops during this trying period , andwith the transport of material to thefighting line .

_

‘

The bombardment andruination Of Ypres has a place in thenarrative , because Ypres was , at thetime , or, at the beginning of the battle ,the base of battalion su pplies . Members of th e transport and quartermaster

’

s staff saw a l l of the horrorsof that awful bombardment, and suffered themselves of its effect .

PART TWOThe great city Of Ypres was bathed

in the setting Su n Of April 22nd . Peace

was abroad ; only distant guns spokeof war and they

”seemed quieter than

usual . Soldiers lounged and smoked ,Chatted and laugh ed with civilians . A .

day’

s work was done and all were'

enjoying the warm evening . C h ildren laugh ed and played about . S trifeand destruction seemed rem ote , therewas n o th ought of danger . That wasabout

Before s ix O’

clock the cit y was m ad .

It was Pompeii in a death - agony . Itwas a . city u n der

'

sh el l fire . Housesfalling , flames m ounting , { explosion sshaking the

“eart h, a populace crying

to Heaven for relief .‘ It was Hell ; '

A

tranquil evening of"

summer became

a night Of horror .“T h e b eginning of

th e dest ruction of fair Ypres is a\hid

eons dream in . .the mem ory Of those

Wh o witnessed it'

an d'

felt of i ts ef

feote .

The E ighth b attalion tr'

ans'port fquartermaster

’

s Stores , and post oi =

fi ce Were in Ypres , near the north-eastc

’

orner . They w ere togeth er on a

m ain , thoroughfare'

leading ou t to,S t .

J ean an d,

S t . Julien . Had the Germansbroken the C anadian line and beat a

way past‘

the 90t h’

s position, theymight have sameroad , a Victorious army of occupation . When the first shell droppednear the city center

’

at it wasthought th at th e Germans had thrownover on e of their periodic reminders .

Very few minutes brought home t h eillusion of such an idea . Huge shells ,each capable Of wrecking beyondrecognition a four-storey building ,

plunged into the place at the rate ofone a minute . Many of the

“Ypres

staff of the battalion were ou t at thetime and those in stores and transportwere advised to get outside the townand await the quietening . They wouldhave waited m an y days for a c essation Of shelling .

When , after the firs t half dozenshells , the people reali zed what wasgoing forward , panic set in . The exo

dus commenced . Thousands of peo~

ple wh o had lived in Ypres throughou t t h e war , thousands of new arrivals ,

'

tem p ted by the“apparent tranquil

ity of the neigh borhood , soldiers of

the allied arm ies All took the sametrail—the on e road out Of town to

safety . It ‘ i s a narrow street runningdown to the

’

canal lead . On reachingth e Yser C anal it turns left an d runs

out to F lamat ing h e an d -_

POperin gh e.

At t h e bend t h e massed refugees passed through a screen of Shel l fire that

dro'

ve th em mad . On e woman , idiotic,jumped in the canal . Th at turn Of

the road quickly b ecam e known as“Dead Man’

s corner.

”It is Wonder

fu l that under such conditions th e

troops on duty were able'

to keephold Of their discipline . It was in

fec t iou s to run wild . I saw’

strongmen pulling Women and children asideto get past the gate of hell and ou t

into th e country . Past that cornerswept thousands , frOm all parts ofth e C ity they cam e . Somewere strongin their fear, others tottered from t h e

fumes of gas sh el ls ; ol d people werein the m ajority .

- Th ei'e were many ,

very many Women , an d most of themcarried

_

or led ch ildren . That nightand t h ese scenes m ay mark t h e futurel ives

‘

of . those little ones wh o escaped . Th e h orrOr of t h e storm -ef ex

“

plosiOn s could b e expected“t é turn

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

the brain of a s trong man . The crashing and rending of bursting shells , thecries of .

wounded innocent s , the

crackle of burning homes , the fixedlook of n am eless terror on all facesthese speak of Ypres on th e m em or

ab le ~ 22n dr

Tran-sport wagons of the E ighthwere

‘

ready loaded at and thes ewere rushed out an hour earlier thanusual as a measure of safety . Incharge of Quartermaster S ergeantBlurton they lay outside th e city u n

til darkness deepened , and . th en t pro

ceeded t owards t h e t renches , passingthrough a

‘

hail of,shrapnel all the

way, as the roads were marked byth e German gunners. On this n ight ,under such conditions Of grave danger,

‘

-t h e transport was called upon to

carry through a phase of its work ,

wh ich is extremely heroic, but n ot

spectacular; All thos e on th e'

colum n

had t h e on e thought .

“We must getthis grub to the boys . They ploddedon , t h e f eeling t hey endured bein gthat

_

of a m an continually Struck atwithout being able to h it back . It wasa noble and inspiring sight to s ee thedoggednes s of the party , each com

pany b eing rep resen ted by its quarterm aster-sergeant . On this occas ionthey were Bowden , Townsend , M cDon

nell and 'Rea. Arriving at_

‘

h eadqu arters the wagons“off-loaded ,” and started ou the ret urn journey . C omp-anyquartermaster-sergeants remained b e

h ind for a time to distribute rationsand they had t o walk back . In themeant ime the transport had reportedback to i ts old billet , which h ad several times been struck, and directedby Lieut . F irm ston e, quartermaster ;the entire unit moved ou t to a fieldabout on e and a half mile-s from town .

Going back to events earlier in theevening : It was mid night when th e

transport m ade its move .

'The'

citywas rapidl y empt ying and t h e g reatexodus was at i t s height about 6

p . .m“Old

'

p eople and sick people ,many of whom h ad been bedridd enfor years , or had perforce remainednear the famil y st ove , b rought up therear of this b ig army of refugees .

There were m any sight s to make theheart s ick, but . most of t hem pass edin t h e con fused pan orama . I saw

on e old m an , ev‘

ident ly _past eig h ty

25

years , truna-ling a wheelbarrow inwhich was an old l ady of equal age,with her feet bound up . S h e was perhaps his w ife . He would st op t o restevery ten feet, but none Offered to

help ; in dividua ls attend ed strictly t o

their own business . I saw a'

womanwith four children , all

'

crying‘

andst anding helpless and u ndecided near“De-ad Man’

s. C orner . A C anadianstaff officer, M ajor Guthrie , rode 'u p

'

and t ook her s ympatheticall y .in h an d .

He placed the l ittle family in care of

an E ighth Battalion corporal , with instru ct io-n s to have the helpless partyplaced in safety . M other and littleones were accordingly conduct ed t o a

farm hous e , which was filled w i th terrifi ed refugees , inc ludin g m an-y men .

The m an in charge , answering thequestion if the woman -children

coul d'

b e p laced there , said h e wasvery m uch touched b y their condition ,

he almost cried . It see-m ed'

th at thelittle family would be forc ed t o s tayou t in the night , b u t by the con v en ifen t process of throw ing ou t of the

house s everal of the m en , and insisting on adm ittance for the part y, th esituation was changed . The owner of

that h ouse was introd uced to pract i

cal ch arity .

After the refug ee m asses . pas sedthe Dead Man

’s C orner” they felt a

n ew ki nd“of t orture . Knowing this

road to b e the onl y prac ticable on e

from Ypre s , the Germans had d irec t

ed on it a shrapnel fire with fine ao

curacy . It drove th e poor c ivilians

into the di tches . They even flockedinto the fields , running

'here an d

there and bewildered by th e menacewhich fol lowed t hem ev eryw h ere .

B locked road-s created difficultiesfor the army transport system s . Motorambulances ammunition carriers and

even g uns were held up forsome t ime .

Towards nine o’

clock , however, therefugee

,army had passed through

Vlam at in gh e,leaving the thorough

fare open for work . Th en com m en c

ed r acking hours for the t ransport s

.of several departments . To reach thescene of strife t hey had t o passthrough t h e gaunt let of Ypres .

'Deathdid n ot stop them. S pl endid deed s of

self sacrifice were,

performed. Horses ,struck by f lying shells , and even men ,

were hurriedly placed asid‘e w hi le the“

‘

work went -forward . It,

= was inspiring

bardms n t , bodies remain in th e cit y,

th e majority civilians

tered over the countryside, even com

pany quartermaster sergean ts , passingthrough Ypres that night didn

’t knowwhere central headquarter s were . I t

was a n eedless risk of“l ife to have

a m an p laced at the stores to act as

gu ide, sO one was posted at a junction Of th e Vla

'

m at in gh e road at

wh ich all com ing from Ypres woul dbe scanned . Iii this Way a l l strag

l

glers w ere picked up b efore the following noon , including the company

Quartermaster sergeants wh o h ad

passed the m ight in a barn between“some of the Briti sh batt eries and theGerman lines . The constant passageof

"

shells over th at barn caused a

veritable wind .

On the z3rd th e task. of removingstores from Ypres was commen cedThis was parti cularly hazardous , the

b ombardment being st ill in ful l force .

_

With commend able coolness th e

tran sport drivers an d quartermasters’

s tafi s w ent into Yp res and salvaged

all perishable supplies an d t hose in

immed late demand‘These removed ,

mail were rescued .

was carried away

m arvellou s t h atdun n g the several days of salvagingn ot a s ingle casualty was sufi ered .

.

iMeanwh ile, supplies were tran sported regu larly each evening to t h e

trenches. On onl y on e occasion di d

th e.victualling department fa il to

connect with t h e battalion , an d then

th e h ot stew , carried up in t h e mobil e

cooker , was di stribut ed am ong mem

b ers‘

of 4

a territorial bat tal ion . Thes etrip s With feed

'

an d comforts for t h e

fi gh tin g l ads were fu ll of adventure

and risk . S pecial efforts were m ade

h r th e enemy to obstruct the roads ,

and it is sub j ect fOr marvel that only

THUNoEa Bar'msrsmoan soc-Is

'rr

er was cau g h t in thesh rapnel . Th e loss in

horses total led three . That other b att al iOn transports were n ot so luckycan b e gathered from the fact thatmany h orses and l imbers w ere passed

on th e roads, perforce abandonedTh e E ighth los t on e transport—th e of

Fair luck continued with t h e bat talion , b ecause not an hour af ter it lefta field to which it origina lly movedfrom Ypres , to a safer place near

poppe‘

d over which kill ed horses of a

succeeding“trans port .

'The shelling an d b ombing of th etransport and st ores , which had re

su l ted in man y moves , as the rangewas establish ed event ually bred a“don ’t care

” feeling among th e staff .

As on e Irish b oy epigrammatically

pu t it

J

_During all these days of st res s inand about Ypres , t h e greatest anxietywas f elt for

_the battalion , and thisWas h eig htened b y the vague reportswhich reached the outs ide . No actualnews was available until the rem

pant s _of t h e gallant force marched

from t h e tren ch es on the nin th day

from th e day it occupied them . S tragg lers would come in an d they told ihcoherent storie s of decim ation . I t

was known th at the . French Africantroops h ad retreat ed from theirtrenches and territory w h ich lay b etween the C an adian l eft an d th e YserC an al , b ecause on the night of t h e

22n d they cam e st reaming down th eroads to Ypres , throwing away armsand equipment , and helping b y their

example to add to the terror .of therefugees . It must b e remembered ,

however, that th ese soldi ers h ad re

ceiv ed the ful l efi'

ect of t h e g as , used

for the first time , and some excuse is

p rovided for the ir action .

What’s . the u se of dodg ing? T h ese

shel ls you“h ear com ing over have al

readsr gone b y”

s Th at’

s a philosophy ,'

h owev er , which h as n ot general lybeen accepted . I remem ber—and th isi s an , actual occu rrence—seei n g a

p iece of shell t ravellin g a long th e

Ypres-Vlam atin gh e road , which was

no doubt a piece of 3. John son from

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THUNDER BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IETY 23

The following paper is a copy—of thereport .b y Mr. Harlan I . ISm it h , Direct

or oi the Geolog ical‘

Survey, Ottawa ,of t h e prehistoric relics found in theval ley of t h e K am in ist iquia River ,191 8 :

Geological S urvey , Ottawa ,

Novemb er 1 91 8 .

Mr. Peter IM IoK el lar,403 John St reet ,Fort William , On tario.

Dear :Sir :

On m y return from the fie ld , a cop-yof your letter of August 7 th ,

1 91 8 , ad

dressed t o William McIn n Ies , Directing Geologist , Geolog ical S urvey, C an ,

ada,was referred to I m e Ifor atten

tion . I have on ly now compl ete d myexamina tion of . the m aterial , an d m yconsultation w ith th e .palae

Ion t olog is-t s

regarding t h e bones .

In reply t o your request for adviceas to wh at t o do with t h e specimens ,I would s tate that we would recom

mend and be very glad i f .o u would

present th e five copper specimens

marked I-c l , c2

, c3 , c4 an d 05 , to the,

Mus eum of the Geological «Su rvey,

C anada , where t hey will b e. av ai labl eto student s a t al l times .

_

In case youare ag reeable t o thi s plan please s end

us specim en cl . I m ay stat e th at

there is certain ly n o place in t h e

world where these specimens w il l bebet ter cared for in the interests of

C anada, and that there are only afew other places in C anada wherethey WI IOuld be likely to be . found , wit hf li l l data if foun d at all .

a; really permanent museum w it h ,

_

a

fully trained archaeolog ist or museumman in charge in Fort W ill iam , Iwould advise th at the specimens bekept the ,re but that , I regret , we can

hard ly expect for many years .

Is it your intention for. u s t o Ikeep

th e 8x10 photograph of the bones andcopper specimens

? We would very'

m uch like to keep it in ou r fi les , andif pos s ible t o have anoth er copy .

Your letter to William M cInn e‘

s,

dated August and t h e‘

b ox .ot

If you h ad

N orth American t ool s .ment i s Iam ong I

preh l s tOric

Th e b one i sprobab ly very recen t an d c

'

for

meat since White m en came to the

Th e point wi th flanged tang1

madeof copper , marked C l on the ph oto

graph is characteristic and typ ical for

specimens"

(Ibones m arked on . specimens and on photograph , B 1 I

.

—B 10,

and B 1 2—B 1 5 inclusive , four copperobjects m arked on specimens an d on

photograph, 02 to C 5 inc lusive; finesand and clay from forty-foot layer,marked E 1 ; hard stratified -

_clay I

IfroIm

sixty~ foot layer, marked E2 , and p i ece

of wood Ifound near bones ) mentionedtherein , was a lso referred to me .

I hav e als o received a copy of,

a sec

tion with legen ds prepared b y you to

sh ow the location of the s ite wherethe specimens we re found, a copy of

“your letter of September 5 1 , and an e Is paper . clippin g . Please let meknow what . newsspaper th e c l ipp in g isfrom ,

- Iand if we m ay keep it .According to Dr. Lawrence M .

Lambe , Vertebrate P I - Ialaeon tolog is t of

the Geological Survey , an d Mr . S ternberg, P reparator o

'

f Palaeontolog icalspec im ens of t h e . S urv ey , th e bonemarked B 1 1 on

“th e

,p -h otograph i s of

a cloven footed ; animal , possibly ab

‘

ufi alo or a specim en of dom es ticcatt l e . This b one

'

w I

‘

as

'

n ot with thespecim ens sent to me an d without itfurther report i s d-ifi icu lt .

Bones marked B1 to 'B1 ,0 an d B 12

to B1 3 inclusive , Dr._Lamb e an d

Mr .IS tern b er-g b oth I

p'

Iron Iou n ce‘

to bethose of the? horse an d net petrified .

Mr. S-ternb er’

g is con vinced th a t mos tof them belong to one individual , andprobably all o f them belong to th e

same individual . Bones marked B 1 4

an d B 1 5 appear to hav e b een on t h e

surface of th e ground for some t im e,

and apparen t ly were n ot found Witht h e h orse b ones marked B 1 t o B 10,and B1 2

_

to B 1 3 inclu sive . In fact ,the rib ,

’

marked-I B 1 4 s eems Ito -

"

have

‘ ul

THUNDER BAY HISTORICAL ”

S OC IETYflike it have b een fqun d They belongto a rather h igh ly developed an d com

parat iIv ely recent culture .

Th e p iece of wood b ears tWo cutsthat appear to have b een made withan axe, b ut it is . app

fl'

aren tly of no

value as th ere is n o m ean s to tellpos itively Whether th e cuts Were

“Please l et me know of . th e

specimens , i t any, you _

IWis'h returned .

We_

Wil l b e g lad t o keep : th e specimen s n iad e of IcIOpper ir you Wil l kindth e Geological Survey, C anada , an d

w ill d iscard t h e p iece of . Woodb ones , and su b m it t h e nodul es and

s amples . of c lay (E 1 an d E 2 ) to t h e

Geologists , u n less, you wish t o retainWas th e .S Itan ley. Avenue Fse

~wer fi n d

600 feet n orth of th e b one an d copper

"

find in th e turning b asin excava

tion of th e C an ad lian C ar an d F oun

Th e con e-shaped poin t (C 3 ) m ade

053. copper is of a typical form , as is

also t h e large ad z'

e‘

.

I BI

oth are Veryg ood Specim en s .

‘

Th e -t wo hooks ap

pear to have b een c leaned .

Was th e hole in rth e a-d ze (02 ) made

b y workmen b efore it was d iscoveredor since? On e would hard ly think a

pick would b e d riv en . through such a

heavy piece of copper With t h e usu al

d iggin g stroke z IWh o found each of

these s pec imen.

‘

Wou ld it b e poIsI

s ib l-

e

'

to s ecure :further dat a ab out th e skeleton I Ifoun d

011 Mounta in Avenue , and i f possi b leany or al l of th e

’

b ones and other

specim en s ?

I would b e very g lad to receive any

furt Ih er"

fact s “ab out t h e four fi nd s of

Wh i-ch ’ You .wrote an d as com plete an

accoun t“a s

other I

arch a Iog ical find s made“: in

Canada . I f you will t reat of each fi ndSeparately 1t Will great ly facilitatemy o I

.rk I enclose cop ies of t h e

n otes I have m ade from you r letter'sfor f '

our fi les . We p lace one copyunder locality an d one copy as a cross

referen ce un der each sub ject m en

t ion ed , as indi cated on th e left m ar

gin of each item. I have b een workin g on t h e di st ri b ution .cf p rehistoriccopper ob jects throughout : Canadaan d these it em s are consequent ly

“ad dress, Wi't h

’

very wel Icuom e

' I -'

do n ot wish to :pu b

lis h th e d is trib u tion of prehi storiccopper work -ih Canada Wh ile therea re prospects of easily securing ad d it- ion al item s . Please let m e know ityou on Wh ere each of th e speci«m ens now are, g iving full name an d

catalogue numb er , i f

Yours truly,PE TER M cK ELLAR

Wou l d it b e_ poss ible to secure any

or all of these specimens for

Domin ion collection ?

You can be : of“great serv ice to C an

adian archaeology if you will continueto send me accounts of archaeologicald

’

iscoveries ,’

description of specimens,

with maps and photograph s and spec l

mens when possible .

Yours very sinc erely,

HARLAN I . SMITH .

(OOPY )Dec . 4t h , 1 91 8 .

To the Director, Geological Survey ,Ottawa , On t .

Dear Sir :I received your report of the relic s ,

bones and copper discovered in Kam

_

in-ist iqu ia Valley, Fort William .

I am thankful to you for your ré

port. It explains th e con d 1t l on ~sq

verywell . I will try . an d an swer th e

points presented as soon ' as I can

gather th e information .

Inclosed please fi n d a Short state

ment by th e Times-J ournal of Fort

Will iam .

In excavations made by the"

C anadian C ar

“an id Fou ndry Company,

Limited , for launching sh ips , at a‘ depth of about [forty feet b elow th e“surf ace an d eighty feet north fromthe turn in g

‘

b as-in in K am in istiquiariver, Fort W illiam Ontario , Ju ly

-

27 ,

1 1918 , p rehistoric animal b ones (about

1 2 , marked B l to B 10 an d B 1 2'

t'

o. a spearhead

_(m -arked C

‘

1 - on p h oto

g ra-

ph ) ; made of copper, an d a piece

of wood , were discovered . Th e en

closed photographs will giv e a good

idea of the spec imens . (Mr . P eter

McK el lar, 403 John'

street , Fort Wi l“

fl iam ,

'

copy of" letter ' and photograph ,

August 7 , let ter ,‘An’

gu‘

s-tfl

'

fi .

. 1 91 8 , and copy of let ter S ep t em b er 5 ,

THUNDER BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOCIETY(Newspaper c lipping , S eptem

b er 30,

Only on e photograph was received .

(Harlan I . Smith ) .

8x1 |0 photograph of bones , B 1 to

3 1 3 , and copper object s , 01 to 105 , byFryer’s S tudio, Fort William , s en t byPeter McK el lar.

The bone marked B 1 1 on the ph otograph is of a cloven-footed anima l ,poss ib ly a b uffalo, or a specimen of

dome stic cattle . (Mr . Lawrenc e M .

Lam -b e, and Mr . C harles W. S ternberg, Geological S u rvey, November20,The b ones m arkedl B 1 to 13 10 an d

B 1 2 to B 1 3 inc lu s ive , on the photograph, are of the horse , probably allan d certa inly most of them are of on eindividual . ('Laumbe and ,S ternberg ,

November 20,

Th e'

b 'on es marked B I Z and B1 3 on

th e photograph appear to h ave beenon rth e surf ac e of the ground , and ap

paren t lyr were n ot found wi th thehorse “bone s m arked B 1 to B 10, andB 1s2

,

to B 1 3 inc lusive . The rib marked\

B 1 3 seem ls ' to have been cu t with . a

saw , which ins trument is unknownamong p reh istoric N orth Americantool s . It i s probably very recen t an dcu t f or meat since white men came tothe region . The forty f eet of depos itover wh ere these specimen s are saidto have been found ,

“must .b e

‘

veryrecent,or the ob jec ts must have beenplaced -in the deposit recently . (Harlan . I . Srm ith . )

In t h e S tanley Avenue sewer ,cop per was

_ found about six hund red feet to t h e north of wherethe bones and copper objectswere fou nd in the excavation m ade ,

3 1

in 1 91 8 by th e C anadian C ar andFoundry C ompany, Limited , in theK am in is t iquia valley, Fort Wil liam ,

Ontario,. about forty f eet below the

surface . About 1 91 3 , a cone-shapedpoint made of copper, two h ook-s madeof copper,

,

a flang ed ad ze made of

copper (marked C Z , C 3 , C 4 an d C 5 on

phot ograph ) and many other toolsm ade of copper were discovered . Someof these were presen ted to the Thunder Bay Historical S ociety . (M r.

Peter McK el lar, 403 John S treet, FortWilliam, copy of letters , August 16,1 91 8, and S eptember 5 ,The site is giv en as six hundred

feet d i stant in s ame geological horizon . (C opy of McK el l ar di agram ,

"M c

K el llar letter , S eptember 5The two hooks are nearly square in

cros s sect ion , tapering t o a point ateach end , have sma ll hooks at the top ;th e shaft is nearly straight with a

turn slightly sharper than a' right

angle to form the hook , and an ob

tus e turn n ear t h e en d of the hook ,

and appear t o have b een c leanedw ith acid A ho le in the adze appearsto have been made b y the blow of apick harder than the usual digg ingstroke , .and may have been madeafter the ad:ze was found . (Harlan I .Smith , November 20,

At a numb er of places in the :K am

imist iqu ia .Valley, bes ide s in t h e C anadian C ar and Foun d ry C om pany excav at ion ,

:the S tanley Avenue s ewer ,Moun tain Avenue , an d

'

McK -ellar Gardens , poin ts f or arrows , tool s made of

copper, e tc . , have b ee-n found . (Mr .

.Peter M cK el lar, 403 John Street ,For t Will iam . C opy o f letter , S eptember 5 -1 ,

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Thu n der Bay H istorical

Society

Papers of 1919

(lBfi‘

trrra

Hon orary Presid en t Hon . Georg e E . Fo sterPresiden t Mr. Peter McK ellar

Vice-Presiden t Mr . A. L ; Ru ssellSe cretary-Treasurer Miss M.J . L . Black

Exa mine (finmmittrr

Miss Dob ie 3 Dr? E . B. Oliv er

Mrs .

"

Joh n li in g Mrs . F C . Perry

~

i‘uiilitn-

ta'

Mrs . C . A: Grah am Mrs . F . C . Perry

PRESIDENT OF TH E H ISTORI C AL SOC IETY

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY 5

An n u al Address,1919

BY’

PH E PRESIDENT

Fellow Members , Ladies and I am pleased that the Flu epiGentlemen : demic has n ot occurred again thisyear,

'as was feared by many .I ‘

am pleased to meet ag al n to celebrate the E leventh Annual An n iv ersary of the Society . During the

'last

f ive years , the world h as passedthrough the most fearful cris is knownto history. The C anadians were early

on the batt le fie ld and faltered n ot ,

n or stopped , until tyranny was overthrown

'

and Freedom ruled triumphant. We have much reason to be proud

of the achievements of our women athome and the bravery of ou r men on

th e battlefield . The unres t after thewar has been significant of muchtrouble , b u t I hope and trust that whenth e C ourt of the League of Nations isconsum mated , that troubles will be

allaye-d an d great wars cease for agesto come .

The C anadian C ar Foundry C om ;

pany contracted with a British C olumbia firm

‘

t o b uild a s teel boat, K in tg s leyto carry freight for th e Pac ific trade.

It was beautifully finished for passenYours

gers . It was completed earlyj n Nove-m

- ber , and sailed for Halifax on the PE TE R M cK E LLAR .

1-5 rth . Lat er on it was to pass through

the Panama C anal , and on to it s d es

t in at ion , Vancouver .

We have g ot the Fur Traders’ tab

let al l paid up . We are n ow planningto rais e money to publish the“PioneerSouvenir,

”and secure funds to beau

t ity the environments. of the tablet,

for which we have se cured a fine plan .

The“After the War”unrest may deter

the _matter for a time .

I am sorry that - it falls on m e to

record the death of the late Miss BelleDobie , on e of our faithful workers .

The many valuable - papers from herhand , appearing in our annuals trulytestify to her devotion an d men t.

A few important papers will appearin this annual , to th e Writers of which ,including Miss M . J . L . Black , I wishto extend my sinc ere thanks . I alsowish to remember our other faithfulmembers , wh o continue to do goodwork .

MISS M . J . L . BLAC K ‘

SEC RETARY-TREASURER

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E . B. OLIVER ,

~ M . O . H .

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

By EDWARD B . OLIVE R , M . O . H .

In pres enting a short history of theep idemic of Inf luenza of last year, itseem s to me that i t might be valuab le ,for purposes of comparison an d for

enlightenmen t regarding the disease .to review briefly the history of pastepidemic s .It i s necessary that on e should n ot

confuse the ordinary La Grippe withInfluenza . Whi le they are virtua lly on e

an d the same d isease , t h e fermer isthe na

’

r‘

ne given to sporad ic cases whi l e

the latter i s applied to t h e epidemicform . It is , of course , with the lattertha t we are d ealing here .

{ Ep idemics have b een recognized

since the 16t There can ben o d oubt that they exist ed long beforethat; b u t were not then recognized as

infl uenza .

During the last cen tury pahdem ics

occurred in 1 8'30k3 3 , 1 836

90. The last on e ci ted abov e b e

gan ,

"

as did t h e one of last year,in th e

far east and rapid ly extended to th e

Wes t A pparently in neither the epid emic of 1 889 90 or that of 1 91 8 wasany part of th e globe unvisi t ed .

The epidemic of Wh ich I write StruckC anad a in S ept emb er an d graduallytrav elled west . The first cases of the

di sease were reported i n Fort W illiamon th e 7 t h d ay of October 1 918 .

They were employes of the C anad aC ar C o, and lived at the Alexand raHotel . They h ad but recently comefrom Montreal , where t h e disease wasprevalent . -They w ere removed to th e

McK el lar Hospital Wh ere th ey wereplaced in an isolated Ward .

.As th e n umber continued to in

creas e , I got in touch“

wi th Dr . C . LN .

Laurie, M . O. H . of Port Arthur, and.We d is cussed the advisabil ity of tak

. ing measures to_

endeavor_

t o le ss en

th e incidence of th e d isease .

on Thursd ay, lOctob er 1 7t h , a jointmee ting of the b oard s of health of

Fort William an d Port Arthur was heldin th e C ou ncil C ham bers , Port Arthur .

Al l members were present .J

Mr . J . R . Lumby was elec ted t o th e

chair .

Th 1s joint meeting pas sed resoluti-on s drawing the attention of t h e in

dividual to'

the point tha t the diseasewas spread by contact, and that people shou ld avoid crowd s ; c losing certain p laces an d prohib iting gathering s ;empow ering Drs . Ol iver and Lauri e

,t o

institute a quarantine; making in fl u

enza a reportable di sease , and askingt he co operation of t h e managers of

the S treet R ailway , 1Ship Yards an d

C ar Works to help prevent over-croWdin g on the s treet cars .Th e same d ay , October 1 17th , a call

was sent ou t for volunteer nurses to

enroll und er the Ontario VolunteerHealth Auxiliary the organization of

a local branch bei n g contemplated .

I might say that previous t o this

I had addressed the nursing d ivision .

of the S t . John Ambu lance Brigade onthe work t h at

‘

m ig h t have'

to be done .

Later I . called the whole Brigade tog ether and addre ssed them on In flu en

za,going into detai l ab out t h e history

of epid emics and treatment of the dis

ease .

Th e branch of th e,auxiliary was

formed and I gave t h '

em th ree ta lks asou t l in ed

‘

b y Dr . M cC u l lou gh ,-C hief 1

'Of

ficer of Heal th . Th ese Lectures weregiven on the 22n d ,

'

2-3rd and 24t h . Agood response was made to t h e callfor volunteers .

I was asked also to be at meetin gsof the b oard of education and separateschool board . After d is cu ssin g th e ad

v isab il ity of c losing schools , b othboard s voted to remain open . Nlurses

were em pl oyed / t o visit th e sch ools .

On Sunday, 27 th , the -case s were onth e increase , Mr : C of t h e Mo

K ol Iar Hospital and the Mother lSu

perior ofp

the S t . Jos eph ’s s chool appealed to me for help . The onl y wayc uld ob tain i t was b y

'

closin g theschool s, wh ich I did , _

releasing thenurs es and teachers . They,

‘

in th e

main responded , to th e,call . In fact ,

10 THUNDE R BAY : HISTOR IC AL socm rv’

on e of the fine features of the fig h twas the work done b y th e schoolteach ers an d others Wh o volu nt eered .

At the m eeting of the joint boardsof health , the dis ease as you have seenwas made reportable .

1Ou r cases werereported from O ct ober 2 1 s t . 1I

'

am al

lowing fifty cases as the number appearing before that date .

The first death occurred on Octobe r1 3 th 1 91 8 .

The apex of the epidemic was reach

ed N ovember 9th with seventy-threecase s reported .

The ‘board of h ealth m et frequently during the weeks of th e epidemicand end eavored t o deal with eachemergency as it arose .

An emergency hospital was openedin th e basement of t h e Public Library

"

and chronic cas es -b rou gh t f ov er from

the M cK el lar Hospital . Oth er b edswere gotten ready b u t

we re n ot needed .

,

A soup kitchen was opened at th eC entral School f rom which nourishing

dish e s of al l kind s w ere s ent to the

various parts of th e c ity .

fortunately“

'What complicated the si tuation wastha t :Scarlet Fever broke ou t

’

b oth inth e M cK el lar Hospital an d in th e S t .

Joseph’

s Boarding S ch ool , whe re on e

hundred children were ill with th e flu .

In all, thirteen cases of scarle t fever

occurred :at the sch ool'

an d nine at the"

McK el lar Hospital An annex was ad

ded to the i solat ion h ospi tal an d allcases from th e school an d hospitalwere s ent th ere . Th e case s were fairly mild , there b eing n o deaths .

It i s worthy of note that t h e greatest number of flu cases occurred in

houses that Were n ot in the best sani‘

tary cond ition . The ventilation wa s

often poor or else there was none . Thefloors were di rty , the inmates . weren ot c l ean of b ody and the appearan ceof th e

‘

h om e in general often showedtha t n o a ttempt h ad been

_made t o

c arry ou t th e f irst princ iple of personal or household hygiene . Nature

’slaws were n ot obeyed and nature ex

acted her tol l .

S tatistic s which follow show thatthose wh o came to the c ity for treatment often came too l ate .

STATISTIC S—INFLUENZA DEATHS

Non -“

residen ts

Died h ere

Nov D

The death rate , taking the numberof cases reported , i s per

cent for al l deaths here a n d“

forresidents alon e . It i s my personal opinion that for every case reported t herewere three or four that were n ot re

ported so that .the real d eath rate

would be nearer 3 p er cent or 4 per

cent .

30to 39 40to 5 9 60yrs TOTA'

L

yrs . yrs . over

30 I7 2 125

There were f our hund red an d twen

ty nine patients adm i t-ted t o the Mo

Kellar Gen eral Hospital up t o November 30th . There were sixty-s ix deaths .

-Twent_y two of those that died were in

the institution less than three day s .

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY 1 3

an d Th e Jesu it M ission ariesBy EUGENE ROBIN

The founding of .Fort iWi l l iam M i ssion 1ou the b ank o f the K am in ist iqu iariver dates back to 1 848 , on the arrival here of the two lJe su it Missionaries ,Fath ers F re Miot and Jean PierreC h onL

1

Fort Wi lliam had then pas sed'

from

camp‘

an d tradi ng post to 1

a Fort an dhad b e en the starting point of the v oyag eu rs en route to t h e far west , as'

early as 1669 , du Luth had establi sheda trading 1post here . Hen - ,ce Fort William , a s the commercial gateway of

the Great-West has a history extend

in g many years back .

O n e might feel inc lined to- wonderat th e late arrival of t h ef Jesu it Mission aries to establi sh a Mis sion and

C hristianize the P agan In dians here ,

when i t is known to the readers ofC anad ian hi story t hat the Jesuits hadfounded M is s ion s a n d labored among

the different tribe s of Indians on theGreat Lakes early in

_

t h e i 7th century .

But there were obstacles , trials and

tribulations which the Missionarie s encountered in the pion eer days of C an

- ada,which u n dou b ted l y

‘

retard -ed theprog ress of M iss ionary achievements.

On e c ertain reason ,the C h r-on iclers

tel-l us , the Mi ssionaries were t oo few ;hence, some posts were left vacant . Ina letter to friends in France , on e

write s ,“Our Missions are getting on

as usual , but we are i n dire need of

Apostolic laborers .

Before continuing my n arrat 1v e of

the Fort William .Mission it m ay beof . interest as an in troduc t l on to dwellfor a few minutes on the Je suit Mission ary lab ors in C anada 1before th eirarrival at Fort W illiam to establ ish

'

a

perm anent m i s sion .

‘

In taking a brief

glanc e here , it wi ll be seen in fac t ofwhat p

’

e ri-l s the work of evan gelizationh as al l too frequently pursu ed .

The firs t Jesuits to set foot on C anadian soil were Fathers Pierre Biard

‘

an d E nnemond Masse wh o arrived atPort Royal on the 22n d of May , 1 61 1They had

‘

c ome from France to'

evan

g el ize the Ind ian t ribes of Acadia .

After three years of Apostolic laborsamong the Ab enakis in Acadia , troublearose with t h e E ngli sh

,1 brother 1du

Tlh et was mort ally'

wounded in thecon flic t and the Jesuits sent back t oFrance in 1 1611 3 .

In1

1 16-215 , however, another d etachment of Jesuit M iss ionaries , FathersC h arles Lal lem an t , E n rn e Mond M assean d Jean de B reb oeu f arrived at Q-ue

b ec where they were hos pitably receiv

ed by t h e R ecol let s . They built a m od

es t residence 1ou the s pot whe re C artierhad erected a fort in 1 5 3 5 3 6. In com

pany w ith Others , Father d e Breb oeu f

h ad l g-on e up the Huron country, wherehe was later brutally murdered 1b y theIroqu oi s in

_

164‘

9 .

Q

Th e Jesuits at Qu ebec were scarc ely initia ted in their mis s ion s 1whenQu ebec was t 1aken

'

7b y the K erkt-s , and‘

in 1629 the Jesuits were again com

pel led to return to France .

C anada was once more restored to

Franc e , an d the Je suit s returned in

163 2 . They founded a college at Q1ueb ec in 11635 . Th ey establi shed centers

along the . S t . Law renc e and otherFrench posts in C anada , but K

their

grea t passionate des ire was the con

1qu'

est of the Pagan Ind ians . Th e F at h

ers had left France t o convert t h e'

In

dian s ; on th a t work t h eir'

h eart s w ere1 set an d for that purpose they embark

ed in frail canoes , dated the rapids , exp lored unknown rivers an d exposed

themselves to t h e t reach erou s a rrow s

of the Iroquoi s . Many of them losingtheir lives after enduring extreme tor

tures an d martyrdom at the : hands

of th e Pagan Indians .

R eady to follow th e wandering

tribes through dense forests , theyhad pitched their tents among thePapinachois of Lake 1st . J1o ;hn in th e

Huron and Iroquoi s countries ; on the1 shores of lake s Huron , Michigan and

Superior . Here on the shores o f thesegreat lakes we find the noted Jesuitmis sionary an

‘

d exp lorer , Father James

1 4 THUNDE R 1BAY HISTOR IC AL"

SOC IETY“

Marquette,

“an d many others whose

names stand forth conspicuous in C an

adian annals .

‘

1On e chronicler tells us , it i s awonderful narrative ,

”“These Apostol ic m en went forth into the most distan t reces- 1ses of th e vast t erritory an d

through untrodden solitudes in theface of appa lling dangers

ships incredible carried the light of

the -Gospel to; t he rem ot est tribes .

”Mr .

K ip , a Protestant minister writes,“

Their l iv es‘

were made up of fearles sdevotedness and heroic self sacrifice .

”1

1

After the dis aster of the p lains of

Amb rah am many of t h e Jesuits returned to France

“. O n ly tw elve - or t hirteen

remained in C anada from their once,

flourish ing mission s O f these,four

remain ed at“Quebec, two at M ontreal ,

an d s ix or seven in t h e Missions .

As years passed on,d eath cl aimed

these few am ong whom were Fathersdu

1

Ja1un-ay1

an-d C lasot .

1Father C 'a-sot ,the last surviv or of that small

-

banddied in Qu eb ec in 1 800, F ath er duJaunay having -d ied .

1

_a fewr years h é

fore .

W ith t h e d eath of F ath er d u Jaunaythe last Jesuit wh o Visited t h eWest ern .

Indians on th e Great La1

,.kes the Jes

uits Apostolic labors on the north of

the Empire c eased

The"

Nipi ss img s it u at ion on the rou te"

where the_

Voyageurs“pass ed on their

way to the w est . w ere’

from t ime t otime V is ited by a pas s ing missionary ,

b u t g m an y of -the more,

"remote tribes ,wh o had on ce 1been C hri stians , relapsed du ring long years“or neglect -or captivity .

1

I t'

Was_

n ot un

t il the middle of t he . 1'

9th century ,that

the Jes uits recalled from France re

sum ed their miss ion ary work on the .

Great Lakes .

In 1 842 at t h e u rgent request of

Monseign eur Bourget Bishop of Mon

t real , the Jesuits returned to C anada .

Among . th e n ew. founders , was“'

Father

Dominique 1du B anqu et , wh o. l atercame to t h e Fort W ill iam mission . Then ew a rriv als opened a n

‘

ovitiate inC anada , an d little by little college ,s

'

residenc es , and Indian missions ; teach e

in g,before . E vangelizing t h e Indian s in the

remote corners of t h e -

”

empire , driventhere by the p rogress of civilization :

and hard

preaching an d ev an g el 1z 1n g1‘

as .

It may be noted here,that it was

also at the urgent appeal of B i shopB our

'

get of Montreal t hat t h e 10blate

Father s arrived a t . M ontreal in 1 841 .

They h ad «come from'

France‘

t o lab orin t h e C anadian

,m i ssions , especially

the Red .

_

R i v -er c olony an d“

th e far

Wes-L It 1w as to join the 10b1ate F athers tha t the young novitiate , Alexan

der T-achi passed through Fort Wi lli am in. 1 844

, an d l ater b ecame Archbishop of St . BonifaceIn 1 836 the Abbie Proulx h ad Visi tedManitoulin Island and had establ i sheda flourishing Mission , b ut the work

became too st renuous for on e miss ion ary , consequently an appeal w as

made to t h e Jesuits and brought in1 844 , Father C honi .

In the summer of 1 846; a num ber oi

men had gone up t o the mines recentlydiscovered on the

_

shores of LakeSuperior. Th e Jesui t Fathers werethen cont emplating the fou nd ing of a

n ew miss ion , which was in fact , com

m en ced two years later b y Father“

C honi at _

Grand P ortage on Pigeon

R iver , an d1—t li at s ame year, 1 848 ,

Fathers F rem iot j and Jean Pierre

C honi arrived at Fort W ill iam andfounded a perm anent mission here .

1 Father F rem iot made his sojourn

at Fort W illiam an d lab ored among

th e Indians,here . Father C honi

sought the -Indians in distant regions .

He went from tribe _ t e . tribe ,“in

_

h is

bark"

canoe in summ er, touching on

all the islands along the lakes ; and

on snow-shoes in winter , vi siting on e

by on e the Indian huts a long therivers or in the depth of the forests ,evangelizing the wandering tribes of

’

the wi lds bordering on the lakes .

When after many month s of longtram ps , enduring hardships an d pri

Vat ion s , he re turned'

to t h e Mission ,fatigued but happy for his efforts and

l abors hadNn ot b een in vain Father

C honi~ found repose with Father

F rem iot under the humble roof of th eM i s sion residence Here the tw o mission aries confided th eir trials an d con

solations . It must have 00st the mis

s ion ariesmany a pang to surmount the.1 promptings of nature . in the savage

wilds of pioneer days , remote from‘

comfort and civilization ; but the l ife:

of a missionary imposes sacrifices

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THUNDE R BAY HISTORICAL soom rx

labored among the Ind ians at Manitoulin Island and other

“posts on

‘

Lake

Huron , in company with Father

C honi , previous to Father C h on i’

s

arrival at Fort Wil l iam l Th e journey

to F ort -Will iam was ‘

still a difficult

on e and occupied many days .

. A brother cc-adjutor w h o was also

on his way to Fort William , had _n ot

arrived in time to join t h e v ogag eurs’

expedition an d had to" “wait several

months at’

Sault S te . Marie for an

opportunity to resume his journey to

Fort Wi lliam .

The trials which Father du Ranquetencountered exceeded what he had

previously endured_

in .oth er ~ m ission s .

Th e region was still a wilderness with

n o regular communication with the

outside world , inhabited .only b y the

Hudson’s Bay C ompany and its . em

ploy ees ; the coureurs de boi s , trap

pers an d !Indians an d half-breeds .

There were still.

troublous timeswith' the Indians at the Mission . Greatwere Father d u B anquet

’

s difficultieswith the Indian band at Fort Wi ll iam ,

especially the ol d C hief (Peau de

C hat ) ,

In the midst of these tribulationstheir exi stence was extremely simple .

The residence was still very primitive .

Their chief nourishment , fish and

gam e , potatoes at rare intervals .

From observations and relations we

get a glimpse of Father du Ranqu et’

s

missionary life in this district during

h is two sojourns at F or-t W ill iam ,

1 85 2 5 9 , and again 1 86078 .

Some of the p ioneer resi dents stillremember Father d u Ranquet toward sthe la st years of

_

h is last res idence in

Fort William ,during

“

which he’

was

Superior .

Many remarkable circumstances ao

companied Father du B anquet’

s so

journ in this district b ut I shall m en

tion only a few Wt h will,

serv e to

show his rare quali ties , of endurance

and courage. during h is long in termj n

ab le journ eys alone ; with n o on e but

h is Divine Mast er to witnes s his rude

apostol ic journeys .

The‘

missionary visited on foot or

in a canoe , a - lite-ral area of 3 5 0 miles .

Add to this the excursions to the

in terior,"

at S avanne (70‘

-miles ) , atLake Nipigon (100 miles ) , Long Lake

(1 80 miles north ) . An d south he went

to Isle Royale and descended far intoMinnesot a . He visited Grand Portage ,on Pigeon R iver . It is said that theIndians do n ot hesitate to cal l a miss ion ary under the slightest pretext ,ev en

‘w ere it from a distance of 300

miles.

On e day while en route to on e of

his missions , probably towards Nipi

gon , he Was told that an Indian wasdying from the eff ects of an encounterhe h ad h ad wi th a bear that he hadkilled . Father du Ranquet went alonein a canoe ,

"taking with him the strictnecessaries and w h at

‘

h e required to

say Mass . At 1 1 a . m . his canoe upsetat a

'

sh ort distance from the shore ; heswam ashore , pushing his canoe beforehim , but lost hi s gun and his chapel .Undaunted , he entered the

"

forest andafter a few hours

’ walk he was besidethe sick man . Finding the Indian so

poor, so dest itute , h e returned Withouthaving taken a morsel of food . Theevening found him back to the

.

spotwhere he had left his canoe a f ew

hours before ; he reversed it and layunder it for the night ; resumed hisjourney the fol lowing morning; regretting the calam ity that had causedthe loss of his chape l and his gu n .

He retu rned slowly , paddling’

moreand more feebly , arrived at a dock of

a Mr . Finlayson , exhausted from hislong fast and tramp Great was t h e

surprise of those w h o advanced to

greet him,as they saw him stagger,

faint and.pale

,unable to

~

speak . In

haste, a ch icken was killed , broth pre

pared and given in small quant i ti es:W ithout this narrative given by Mr .

Finlayson , Wh o wrote himself, and re

lated this i ncident to F ath er C h on i at

t h e‘

M iss ion , n ot a = word of this woul dhave : been known , as Father du Ran

qu et : carefully concealed and neverhimself m ade known the least deta i ls

of the hardships and s ufferings he~ endured unless he knew them to have

b een cold winter evening

,returning from distant Missions ,

Father~

du Ranquet arrived at’

the

Mission , his long beard covered withfrost, h eld his lips pressed c lose t o

gether ; so feeb le was he that Father

C honi was . for th e -mom ent undecided

whether to give him extreme unction .

On another occasion he had walkedseveral days and arriving in t h e vicin

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY 1 7

ity of the Mission , he met a C anad ian

w h o asked him to visit h i s dyingwife . E xhausted though he was froma prolonged fast du rin g

'

h is journey,the father. followed his guide during aquarter of -ah hour, and collapsed uponentering the house , and h ad to betaken to the Mis sion without havingrecovered consciousness .“These are only a few in cidentsfrom his life made up of fearless de

v otedn ess and heroic self-sacrifi ce

Which may seem an exaggeration in

ou r present day of comfort and ease .

Years passed on , years filled with

continuous work among the Oj ibways.

There had b een troublous times at thelittle Mission ; several times the

chapel and residence had been prey

to flames ; but the missionaries labored

on devotedly and tenaciously with re

newed courag e . From its primitivestate, t h e chapel an d residence hadrisen t o more pretentious an d com

fortab le buildings .

N ine years after the founding of theMission , Henry Roule H ind of the

C anadian Red R iver E xploring E xpe

d it ion of 1 85 7 , gives th e following n ar

rat iv e of the Jesuit \Mission at Fort

The Mission -of the ImmaculateC onception is under the - charge of theR ev . Father

‘

Jean Pierre C honi , S . J . ,

w h o has res ided_

on the banks of theK am in ist iqu ia for nine years . Thereare already congregated from 30

'

to

3 5 houses substantially bui lt of wood ;in their general arrangem ent and coni

struction they are far superior to t h e

_

log houses of C anadian pioneers inthe forest . Many of them have gar

dens attach ed to them , a few of.

whichwere in a good state of cultivation ;som e smal l fields fenced

'

with post andrail were in th e rear of the mostthriving .“Father C honi

’

s room , into which wewere admitted , gave us a clue to theprosperi ty, cleanliness and appearanceof industry which

'

d i stinguished theMission . A young tame partridge washopping about th e floor when we eu

tered . A number of books occupied asmall tab le . in on e corner , the otherwas taken up by a turning lathe, andv ariqs articles manufactured b y thepriest were lying about the room . Alow bed covered with a buffalo robe

during the service .

fi lled another corner, an d while wewere conversing an old chief dressed inscarlet cloth quietly entered andplaced himself on a chair by the sideof a small carpenter

’

s bench , whichfi lled the remaining angle .

”

Mr . Hind further Says :“Ou r Iroquoi s

, being desirous of

going to Mass at t h e M ission on Sun- day, ,

Au g . 2n d , several of the partya ccompanied them , and witnessed therather rare spectacle of a numerousand most attentive Indian congregation engaged in C hristian worship .

The chapel i s a very spacious an dwell con structed build ing of wood witha semi-circular ceilin g painted lightblue . The walls w ere panelled to theheight . of about four feet , and altogether the int erior arrangements anddecorations exceeded our anticipations , and everywhere showed th e in

du s triou s hand or intelligent directionof the Rev . Father C hon i . The Indiansforming the regul ar congregation werearranged in the most orderly manner ;th e left side of the chapel being appro

priated to the men and boys ; t h e rightto the women and girls . The boys andgirls were placed in front of theirsen iors . The m en were provided withfo ,rms the women sat on the floor.The utm ost decorum prev ailedthroughout the serv ice , and the chant

ing of both m en and women was excellent; that of the s quaws being remarkably low

'

an d sw eet . F ew of the male

portion of the congregation .took theireyes from the priest or their books

The squaws drewtheir , shawls or blankets

“

over,

theirheads and . showed the

,utm ost atten

tion . The priest delivered a ‘ long serm on I in the Oj ibway language withmuch . energy , and seemingly withthe greatest fi

‘

uen cy.After the ordinary service of th eI day was over, b eing before requested by on e of our

party, he delivered an admirable serm on in French . H is style languageand manner -Were of a

‘

very superiororder , an d th e drift of h i s wordsseemed to go far in his shadowingforth the philan thropic impul ses whichsustained him in his solitary work of

love ,“so remote from soci ety, comfort

and civili zation .

Thus we learn from M r. H ind’s

1 8 THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOCIETYabove narrative that the

_Mission h admade rapid

‘

strides , b oth spiritual lyan d materially, during the n ine years

of'

th e'

Jesu it Missionaries? residenceat Fort Wil liam , despi te the manydifficulties they encountered at th e

beginning, an d though there were stillat that date , 1 85 7 , a few pagan Indiansin the vicinity.

' After many years of devoted mis‘

sion ary labors at the Fort WilliamMission, _

and other Missions in th e

district of Thunder Bay, as also on

the"

shores of Lake Superior, assist edb y Father du R anquet , wh o succeededh im as superior at the Fort WilliamMis sion , Father Jean P ierre C honi

died at Wikwem ikon g , December 1 4th ,

1 878, in h is 10th year .

F ather Dominique du R anquet,'

whose miss ionary career has alreadybeen sketched , and wh o resided at

Fert,

Wi l l iam until 1 878, died at Manitoulin December, 1 900, in his 87th

“

year .

Th e Orph anage at t h e M iss ion

In the fall of 1 870, four S isters of

the Order of th e“Daughters of Mary,”

E UGENIE ROBINMarch , 1 91 9 .

Whose Mother House is in Pari s ,'

France , came to th e Mission an d opened on e of their homes , where a number ,

of orphans and little wai fs of the district as well as those of the Mi s sion ,found shelter under th e loving careand protection of the

’

S isters .‘

Theyinstruc ted an d educated the Indianshere; and after 1 5 years

”

of faithfullabor were recalled by their su

perioress . The Daughters of Mary

were s ucceeded by the S isters of S t .

Joseph , w h o open ed their Mission

House in 1 885 . Thei r zeal and devoted

care of the orphans , at their - presenthome on Franklin street i s too wellknown

'

to t h e peopl e of Fort Williamand vicinity to make an y further com

ment . Therefore , as the story of the

F ort William Mission has been tol dbefore , I .shall n ot dwell longer on thefoundation of this his toric spot whichhas

,l ike

,

many other of Fort William

’s historic sit es , given way to in

du strial and commercial demands .

I

MR . P . H . GODSELL

THUNDE R BAY' HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

Th e Ojl bw ay In dianBy P . H . GODSE LL

When C hamplain an d the Puritansfirst landed on the Atlantic coast theyfound this country rather thickly populated with various tribes , sub-tribes ,and bands of the numerous Algonquinfamily .

. .Th e Wampanoags,

Narrag-an

-setts ,N ipm u nkIs , the

_Micmacs , Abe-n akis , theM on teg n ais were all branches of thisstock , speaking what was practicallythe same language though split up intoinnumerable dialects: The Algonquinfam ily was th e most numerous on thecontinent of North America , an d , for

centuries prior to the com ing of the

white m an , had been slowly spreadingin a northwesterly direction . Theywere a hunter race , l iving C hiefly uponfish and the m ea t of Bear , M oose , andother game that was then quite plen t iful , on lyi a .few of the m ore settledtribes of the NewE ngland coast makin g any pretense of cultivating thesoil , and then rais ing only small quantities of corn and maize . These Ih

d Iian s , while never conspicuous fortheir g allantry or martial proIcl iv it-ies

yet produ ced pnact ical l‘

y all really great

chieftains known to the student of -In

dian his tory , notably K in g'

P h il ip , Pon

tiac , and Tecumseh . To a great etxtent , however

‘

, their characteristicswere t h e

'

r‘

esu l t of environment . Two

branches of this S tOC k, the C heyennesand Blackfeet, cros sing the Mississ ippi , and traveling steadily westwardamongst what were mortal enemies

, .

gradually.'

changed‘

from a . scatteredrace of peaceful fish eaters , into a war

”

l ike and somewhat better organized J

band of meat eaters , l iving an d clothin g themselves from the buffalo.

0

The very conditions that , these people were forced into con tact

'

w ith ,de

v v eloped in them all the finer an d most

heroic,

v irtu es th at th e Ind ian race i scapable of attaining

,their fi ghting

days ending barely forty years ag o.

The Oj ibway , however , faced very

different"con d iton s , . prob ably due tosome exten t to his

’

dislike'

for Iw arfare ,

21

he was driven by his neighbors intothe semi-arctic wilderness of the. northwhere , living from the proceeds of thechase an d net, it was impos sible to re

side in communities , as a result ofwhich , the Oj ibway Nation was so onlyin name , as there was n o central organization or

“government , the tribe i t

self being split u p into further tribes ,sub-tribes , bands , and finally familie s ,each band being prone to look upon itself as a Nation , and .

t o look upon theneighboring band with suspicion an d

aversion .

‘

Almost every large lake b eC am e

p

t h e social centre of on e of thesebands , which , while scattered throughthe surrounding forests during thewinter on their individual huntinggrounds , would ultimately m eet at theen d of the hunting season at the lake ;wh ere they would live in idleness and.

plenty for the summer months , scattering again in the fall . No attemptwould b e made to pay friendly ,

vis itsto the neighboring hands but eachband -would hold aloof from the other .

The E as tern Oj ibway, differed“in

m any respects from his northern re

lat iv es , as they were always at blowswith their Iroquois enemie s . The

French settlement of C anada soon supplied them

’With a -market for theirfurs , and annual journeys were madefrom t h e sum mer camps by the moreprogress ive hunters to

"

M ontreal ,though as often a s n ot these

'

expeditions

'

ended in disaster, owing to_

theIroquoi s practically controlling thetrade routes , an d ly in g

‘

in wait for theOj1b w

‘

ay f l-

eets .

‘

- As'

t h e French s trove t o subjugatethe Fiv e Nations , they gradually penetrated the interior an d established

'

trading an d m is sionary posts underthe auspices of t h e Governor of C an

'

ada an d the Jesuit Miss ion at M ich il l imackinac,

’

an d Detroit , to control thetrade of thi s tribe amongst others .

Ab ou t t h e time that the French werepushing their

—trading operations from

the E ast , the Hudson’s Bay C ompany

22 THUNDER BAY“

HISTOR IC AL SOC IETYestablished themselves in - th e Bay of

that name , and in a short time -the

more n ortherly Oj ibways of th e Th u n

der Bay District com menced to traff ic

w ith‘

t h em , so that while the E astern

Oj ibway was making his way with t h eprevious winter

’s catch of'

fur towardsMontreal , the Thunder Bay Oj ibwayswere journeying to Jam es Bay , where

t h ey con t in u ed to trade until th e . ad

vent . of the North West C ompany .

Among st a '

peOple leading a hunters’

l ife,a large extent of territory is n e

cessary to support each individual , and ,

as a result of these fcon d it ion s ,

‘

(aspreviously mentioned ) , the population

of each band was necessarily widelyscattered , each fam ily having its own

hunting grounds , which Were handeddown through the descendants , eachfamily having what was looked uponas proprietory right to their huntinggrounds which was fully recognized

an d faithfully observed . Little social

development could be e xpected underthese circumstances , an d as f to fg ov

ern m en t there was practically none ,each ind ividu al being in the nature

Of a law u n t-O himself , wh ich dispos i

tion w as further fostered from in

fancy , as a ch ild was rarely corrected

an d almost never beaten . It would be

expected th at u n der the Circumstancesthere would be very little harmony in

the life of an Indian vill ag e . Yet suchwas n ot the case , for the Indian haddeveloped a religion , which while n ot

v ery‘

beautiful , an d immeasurably re

moved from the Indian religion as -rep

resented by sentimental

novelists , yet served it s purpose to an

even greater extent than our own ; asan :Indian com munity w as usually mostpeaceful , and theft and murder werealmos t unknown . The Oj ibway hadhis own code of eth ics as well as eti

qu et te , and was a far closer observerof both—ih his way—than the whitem an .

I will‘

enlarge further in the_proper

place as to the nature Of the Oj ibwayreligion , and the causes for its c los eObservance .

I have rem arked that there waspractically n o governm ent to an Indiancommunity, and this is so.

a strong element Of - hero'

worship in

poets and

There is

the"

soul of an - Indian , that permitshim to be swayed to

_

a surprising degree by on e whom he generally re

spect s and admires , as a result , t h egovernment of th ese people such asit was , was often of a patriach al nature .

,Usual ly there would be at least

on e man i n each/ b an d wh o had to'

ahigher degree than others , developedthe Indian virtues , an d of su fi icien t

strength of character to gain the respeet of the majority , in which casethis man wou ld

'

g radu al ly assume thelead in everything relating to theirevery day life . At th e same time hecoul d only rule or sway his followersas long as '

h e followed th eir'

I d esires ,

an y arbitrary show_

ot . power or authority would be immediately reseh ted r

I In -other cases a

,

man having an'

unfamily or l arge number

of sons would be almos t certain to bethe leader of the band .

In event of a breach of the recogn ized moral laws , neither the chief n orany other mem ber of the band - hadpower or authority to lay hands On

the C ulprit, whos e onl y punishm entwas public disfavor . In ev en t ~ of mu r

der it would possibly become a b loodfeud b etwe en the two families concern

ed , though oc casionally a present would

be accepted as suitable atonement .The Oj ibway religion is an abstract

thing and“d ifficult to describe, the

religious beliefs Of even the most pagan to

,day have passed through v arious

changes until it has assimilated someof the teachings of the R oman C atholic faith ;

It is very -much Open to questionif any of the Alg onquin . tribes , or in

‘

fact an y at the tribes east of the Mis siSsippi had a belief either in a SUP

RE ME being , or a future life prior tothe ministrations of the J esu it s , ,

n ear

ly 300years ag o. T his seems to be at

odds'

with all preconceived id eas o f theIndian religions , yet what better authority could on e require than th e earlyJesuit relations , C h arl iv oix ,

'

Breb eu f .

Parkm an , _an d innumerable recogn ized

authorities . True , he had numerousManitous , but m ost of them neededpropitiating , the idea of the GreatSpirit , or g it ch e-Manitou , being an in

novation?Of the Jesuits , as t h e nearest

pOss ib le“approach to our Almighty .

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24 THUNDE R BAY HISTORICAL SOCIETYcovered with bark

’

and skins , present J"

ing the appearance of an elongatedb ee-hive . In . the mean time th e in h ab

itan t s of the village have all assem bledaround the

'

lodge half hidd en in theundergrowth and willows . The medicine man , carrying perchance , a rattlein his hands , enters on hands andknees while h is assi stan t squats ou t

s ide the now clos ed door and beatsmonotonously upon a drum . Soon theconjurer is heard loudly calling uponh is Manitou for aid , his voice keepingtime to the beating of the drum louder and louder re-sounds the sm g in g ,

and louder still the throbbing aecom

pan im en t , until the woods seem fullof

'

u n cou t h so‘

unds“and groans , while

the terrified audience c rouch down intheir blankets-

“an d rab b it skin s , as the

lodge commences to sway to and fro,

as i f it also were imbued with life,

and n ow all sound and movementceases ,and the inmate cf t h e IOdg e ish eard consulting in an u n kn oWn language with t h e spirits , a gain the lodgesways drunkenly to an d fro,

again thedrum throbs , then once again s ilence .

A small voice this time coming apparent ly from the sky is heard in con

verse with the conjurer, still in an u nknown tongue , questions are apparentIy asked and answered

,until the

spirit voice gradually dies away . Onceagain the woods resound with the n u

earthly groans an d cries accompaniedby the echo of the drum an d the songof the medicine man , until the lodgeceases to sway and totter from , s ideto s ide , and the conjurer bathed inperspiration , staggers in to the .open ,

and makes known to the"

fearful crowdaround him , the int elligence received

from the spirits whom all heard h imconverse . with .

So m uch for t h e Indian s power of

ventriloquism , yet even in the Indians’

theology there is much that is strang eand unexplainable to the unbel ievingwhite man,Amongst t h e s lightly better organizod Oj ibways of the\South-E ast, thev arious medicine men are all m embersof a grand medicine

“society known as

the'

M edwdwi n wh ich was"

a powerful

org anization which largely controlled

the m ovements of the tribeThis then constitutes t h e religion of

the“Pagan Oj1b way , wh o far from w or

shipping a Supreme Being , placateseven the sp irit s

‘

of the rap ids'

w i't h of

ferin g s of tobacco cas t into the watersand bears n ot the slightes t resem b

lanc e to the poetical theology of theIndian of Longfellow or S choolcraft .

And n ow for a glimpse into their

social life and customs . During thewinter there was hardly any social in

tercou rse,each w igwam containing

on e or'

two families , being separatedfrom ten tof twenty -miles from the

b u t of their nearest neighbor, . in‘

periods of the greatest plenty when

on e hunter would have been lucky

enough .to kill three or four moos e , a l l ,

the neighbors would be called upon

to share the spoil s . Then would followa successive round of days and nights

of continual feasting and eating , and

all would be hilarity , while the hunters lolled around the wigwam in some ;what inelegant pos itions , smokingtheir small stone headed p ipes

’

an d

banteri'

ng on e another with (unseem

ly ) endles s jes ts and stories .

Ti’

rin r

g _

of this means of recreation ,

on e of the Indians after warming .a

tam b ourine shaped drum at the fire .

and after on e or two preliminary taps ,would commence lu jrib ou s ly s inging ,

while all accompany t h e‘

t im e of thedrum

"

with the swinging of’

their“

should ers , the singer interspers ing hissong

“

with occasional witticisms wh i chwould never fail to evoke roars of

laugh ter . 0

Th e last bone having been scrapedthe guests would return to theirhomes , probably with the knowledg eth at they would n ot have another mea luntil they were successful in snaringsome rabbits , or shooting some game.

Amongst th e Oj ibways the work wasevenly divided am ongst t h e men andwomen . As amongst ourselves them an supplied the food while the wo

m an attended to the domestic arrangem ents , which meant vis iting the rabbitsnares and fish nets and cutting firewood and boughs to carpet the wig

wam , carrying th e water , attending to

th e cooking—n ot ( a particularly o ner

ou s occupation—l and_

making'

an d man

u facturin g rabbit-skin - robes and

c lothing , mending her hunter’s mocca

sins and - lacing“his snow-shoes . When

25THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

travelling she would undoubtedly car

ry th e greater part of her hom e andhousehold furniture upon her back ,but then she had a broad an d well dev eloped back , an d her lord an d master was probably a mile in advance in

pursuit of game with which to furnish the next meal .

(It was the custom when a girlreached puberty to provide her withan individual platter, spoon , knife , an ddrinking utensil , a n d

”to compel her

to l ive entirely alone an d in seclusionon /

‘

som e rocky promontory , or / cavein the woods , for two or three weeks ,h er return to the band being the sign al

‘

t h at she was in the matrimonialmarket ) .

Amongst a peop le so wayward evenfrom infancy, an d never corrected , itcould hardly be expected that theywould develop a strict m oral code .

They were an elemental people an d

swayed almost wholly b y their des ires ,an d needless to say there was n o

double code of moral .ethi‘

cs , hence theyouth of both sexes was on e of

lv ery

considerab le license ; , in many casesa more attractive girl contracting

What m ay be termed two or three experim en tal

“

marriages‘ before

’

she finally settled down to a life

'

and ol d ageof drudg ery . Pol igam y was and stilli s practiced , .though only the morecapable hunters were able to adornth eir wigwams with more than on e or

two of'

the “fair sex .

The marriage ceremony was n ot atal l

‘

im pos in g and usually constitutedof a present or presents to the par .

ent s or brothers of the girl followedpossibly by a feas t and a dance aroundth e ins ide of

\

a specia lly preparedelongated wigwam having a fire atboth ends , the orchestra being com

posed of three -

or four howling huntersbeating upon tom -tom s .

E ach b and of‘

Oj ibways i s split upinto clans , though little recognitionis“given to these by t h e Northern

Oj 1b way ; the p lans are characterizedb y animal

”

totem ic names , such as th eLoon , K ingf isher, Beaver, etc . , descent being reckoned b y

_

the father,amongst the Southern Oj ibwaysnearer the source of culture , marriagehaving to take place outside the clan ,

in other words a’

man w ith a Loon

totem could n ot marry a girl of aLoon totem , but a woman of anotherclan , a Kingfisher or Beaver for in

s tance . The idea of avoiding closemarriage appears to be the real bas isfor clan exogamy . The Totem

(Ndo’

d em ) seems to be regarded as anemblem which designates the groupand of which members have the samepride as the British of the Lion , andth e Am erican s of the E agle . The totem ic n ickname probably originatedfrom the abundance of some partieular c las s of animal in the old huntingterritories which later became a m ark

of identity for the proprietors .The totemic system , however, only

seems to have been thoroughly developed amongst the Iroquois , whereit being properly observed , preventedintermarriage , an d helped to hold theorganizat ion together, making theFederation of the Five Nations a realan d lasting thing .

The marriage ties could be dissolved .

with as much ease and even less ceremony than they w ere con sum ated .

Love charms and love medicinewere used by the younger people in

cases of unsuccessful love-making .

Much has been w ritten and cred u

lou s ly believed of the Indian character ,a counterfeit image has been tricked

out which might seek in vain for itslikeness anywhere upon the face of

the earth .

The shadows of his wildernes s homeand his own s toical reserve in thepresence of a stranger h as made theIndian a myst ery and surrounded himwith a glamour of romance .

The Indian character is a mass of

cont radictions .

“At~

once proud and distant , y et at the same time he wi ll beg

for a drink of whiskey or receive withevery mark of pleasure the leaving sof a meal handed him by a traveller.The inordinate pride of an Indian

sets language at defiance and he hatesthe

'

very thought of coercion , a wildlove of liberty and intolerance of con

trol are t h e bas is of his character .He throws over al l feelings a veil

of iron self-control in the presence of

strangers , yet around his own campfire this reserve is to a large extentdiscarded like a mask .

He does n ot desire to learn the arts

THUNDE R BAY HISTORICAL SOCIETYof civilization , y et the_

" stern unchan’

g=_

ing features of his mind cannot butexcite one ’s admiration

'

from.their

v ery im mutability .

I have remarked earlierin this discourse , that t h e Oj ibways were n ot afighting nation , yet even so they wereforced to d o a con siderable amount of

fighting to'

hold the sterile arcticwilderness th at was . their home . From

the earlies t times the E astern Ojibways was at blows with the Iroquois ,wh o every S pring without fail as sob n

as the - rivers opened up , sent cu t their

raiders .Th eSe

.

untiring warriors whose‘

villages an d hunting g rounds were w ith f

in the pres ent state of New York , and

wh o in their p-alm ies t days , probablydid

'

n ot exceed two thousand war:riors , covered

“on e-third of the contin

en t of North”America wit h their war

part ies ,'

so that the Oj ibway, placed ashe was could n ot exp ect to avoid con

f l ict WI th them . Amongst the LongLake Band of Oj Ib WaYS , living barely

two h undred miles from Port Arthur ,the older men still have vivid recol

lec tions of stories handed down from

father t o son of the incursion of thesevindictive warriors , and point ou t to

this day is1an d s 1an d points—from which

the Iroquois pounced on them as theypaddled by in th eir . can oes ; or wherethey in turn

‘

su rpri s ed ambu shedbands of Five Nation warriors . Againtheir tradition s tell of their long summer trips with furs by canoe to Mon

treal , prior to their having dealingswith th e N orth West and Hu dson’

s'Bay

companies , of their being pounced

upon by the Iroquois whom“

they al

mos t always defea ted (s ic ) , and of theIroquoi s devouring the prisoners , . a

practis e which it is known the Iro

quois at on e_ tim e resorted t o.

_

So

that even the m ost inlan d of the ‘

Oj ihway could never feel ab solutely secure from the

“

. incurs ion of enemies .

At th e coming of the white man , theAssin ab oin s , a branch of the warlikeS ioux , occupied the coun t1 y extending

westward from th e head of Lake Superior. Gradually the western Oj ibway sdrove th e Assin ab oin s westward . ontothe Manitoba plains while they in theirturn held the country that they haddisposses sed their enemies 01? unti l

they fina lly extended their territory» as far west as the Turtle Moun tains .

E vidence is seen to this day of theeffect of th e continuous contact withenem ies of the Western Ojibways ,’

w h o are even yet intractable,haughty,

and of a troublesome and vindictivenature . I am referring t o the Indiansof th e Rainy R iver district west . TheNorthern Oj ibway remain a quiet

,

pleasure loving and tractable people .

The Oj ibway first came Into b is torical prominence ln the Ind ian War thatfollowed the conquest of the Frenchon C anada and the occupation . by theBriti sh of the chain of frontier posts .

:R epelled by the haughty ,

and arrogant attitude of the British and in sp ired by Pontiac (whose mother was an

Oj ib way and father an Ottawa ) , theassociated Oj Ib way , Ottawa and Pot

tawatom ie tribes In June 1 763 , . s imultan eou s ly fe ll upon the chain of frontier p-csts connecting the West withthe E ast , S t . Joseph ,

—Ou iaten on ,

Green Bay , M ich il l im ackin ac , Detroit ,N iagara , Presque Isle , Le , B eeu f ,

- Vernango, and Fort Pitt , were all attackedand all fell with the exception of FortPitt and Detroit . Detroit _ was thensurrounded by the ban ds of hostileIn dians w h o laid s iege t o t h e fort for

a year and a half . Peace finally_being

concluded at Fort Qu iaten on with

George Oroghon , S ir\

W illiam John

son’s representative on August -27t h ,

1 764 . This was'

on e of the m ost d es

tru ct iv e of wars between the whiteand Indian races as the temporarysuccess that Pon t Iac met with causedmost of the . southern

,

tribes of the

Ohio to join his standard , even theIroquois showing a strong dispos ition

to swing over from their allegiancewith the British , to the s ide of theirers twh ile Indian enemies , only thestrong controlling influence of S irWilliam J ohnson , the first appointed In

dian Ag ent, succeeded in preventingthem from

-Pontiac himself was murdered . b y a

K askakia Indian a t t h e ins tigation of

an E nglish trader nam ed Wi lliam son

at S t . Louis two years after his de

feat .

The OJ1b way ag ain _ foug ht in 181 2 ,

but this tim e on t h e -s ide of the Brit

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

ish under Brook an d t hat renownedS h awan ce Chieftain , Tecumseh .

Not again until 1 91 4 did the Ojibway appear upon the page of history ,this time , ag ain

‘

in arms, fighting on

foreign soil amongst strangers again stth e unspeakable Hun to o u ph ol d theallied cause an d ou r ow n civilization .

And n ow to return to the everydaylife of the Indian .

A little over a hundred years ag o

the North West C ompany , operatingfrom Montreal , gradually extended Itsfur trading

’

operations via Fort WI1

liam to t h e plains“an d forests of

Man itoba an d S askatchewan , thus cu t

ting off a lot of the Indian trade from

the Hudson’

s Bay C om pan y'

w h o stillrem ained slum bering around the Bay .

The effect of the inroads of th e'

NorthWest C ompany was immediately felt

,

and then at last , though n ot before b ein g forced to do so,

this companyawoke

“an d commenced feverishly

pu sln’

n g its posts an d ou tposts - in landall along the l arge rivers an d

'

s tream s ,

until . Norther-n‘

an d Wes-tern C anadafrom Hudson

’

s Bay to the R ocky”

Mountains was dotted with t heseposts . The compan y ,an d the 'North

West am algam ating , placed practically al l the Indians in C anada with aWell outfitted trading pos t within afew days

’

paddle of their wigwams .

These posts were generally situated

on the large lakes which were theheadquarters of the different bands .

Brigades . of canoes and boats mannedby Indian and French voyageurs made

yearly - trips with the season’s returns

of furs to_ the company

’

s depots , re

turning with the season ’s tradinggoods .

This , then , brings us to th e presentday .

E very year in t h e early fall , all theIndians of each band will assembleabout the same

'

tim e at -the Hudson’sBay C ompany

’

s pos t on the lakewhich happens to be the headquartersof the band , where erecting their can

vas tents and birch-bark Wigwams ,they will

‘

remain , each hunter waitinghis turn to receive his fall outfit or

advances .

E ach individual Indian is known tothe trader , his capability as a hun ter,his

”

reliability in the mat ter of pay

27

ment of,goods advanc ed him on cred

it, the s ize an d requirements of hisfam ily , and the length of time thatwill expire before he will be abl e .to

bring in furs to trade . On the abovebasis , the trader will advance himgoods

'

on credit , amounting probablyto from to in this m an

ner every Indian receives an outfit offood , warm clothing , traps , blankets ,et c . , after which the wigwams an d

tents , dogs ,’

squaws , blankets , an d

greasy children are all bundled intothe small birch cance , an d the differen t bands and families commencetheir four to ten days ’ journey to theirindividual hunting grounds .

The number of canoes soondwindles as some of them turn up thedifferent streams an d rivers , until on e

_

or two are left an d then these too arrive at their destination . On the northshore of a small but deep lake, wells tocked with fish , the wigwam is re

erected , nets are set in . the lake , rabbit snares in the woods ; an d preparat ions are

'

made for the winter . Soon

the surface of the lake i s frozen thick ,'

an d the whole surrounding landscape

is covered in a deep mantle of white ,’

a barely perceptab le white feather of

sm oke against the still blue sky markin g the location of—the wigwam . F or

days at a time the Indian hunter, accompanied by his son , traverse thewoods north and south , east and west ,looking for s igns , setting their trapsan d deadfalls , skinning . the fur-bearing animals that he occas ionally findsin h is trap . At last he kills two moose ,so decides

,to return to his wigwam ,

where arriving he makes known thegood news . The moose are heavierthan his h ouse and household equipment , so he decides to move to thespot where the slaughtered moos e lie .

The wigwam is soon taken down andthe goods being packed on toboggans .

and on the backs of h is wife anddaughter, they proceed on their wayand have soon re es tablished themselves on a sm all stream clos e to

where the carcass-es lay.

The night has just fallen , and theinside of the bark wigwam is suffused with a ruddy glow from thebright fire burning in the c entre ; su-d

d en ly the dogs commence to b arkf al l

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

lis ten and then they hear the distanttinkle of bells—welcome soundsthese must be the dog -teams from the

post with food and trad in g su ppl ies .

The sound comes closer and ou t of thedarkness a long black snake-like

shadow emerges , followed b y another ,they are dog teams sure

'

en ou g h , andthe arriving dogs scenting their fellows suddenly go crazy as givingtongue to a medley of barks an d cries

they rush for the wigwam an d p oun ce

upon the Indian dogs , w h o, however ,quickly elude _ them .

Soon the dogs are chained , the to

b og g an s unpacked and stood against

adjourning trees , and the goods car

ried into the wigwam . The two Indian

dog -drivers an d th e trail breaker enterthe wigwam , and after shaking hands

'

with the inmates squat cross-legged on

the carpet of evergreen boughs which

covers the floor of the lodge . A giftof flour, pork, tobacco, tea an d su gar,i s given t o the hunter by the Indian

wh o is in charge of the trading expe

dition , an d all proceed to smoke whilethe squaws engage them selves in preparing food for themselves an d theirguests . Soon a l l th e male inmates are

busy discus sing a meal of moose-meat ,fish , and banno

‘

ck , accompanied by

copious d'

raughts of steam ing tea ;while th e women folk , as etiquette dem ands , await their turn to

'

eat , untilafter the men have completed theirrepast, each Indian making it a pointto eat absolutely the whole of the generous helping given him .

E veryone has eaten , the guide proceeds to build a fire outside , an d to

cook feed for the dogs while the In

dian trader opens up h 1s goods on thefloor of the wigwam . The huntersproduce their furs , which are valuedby the trader, w h o after collecting aportion of the advances given these

Indians in the fall, then permits themto barter the balance stil l coming to

them .

The trading operat ions having beenconcluded , the

‘ dog sg

fed , and cu rrenttopics of interes t having been discussed , all rol l themselves up in t heir rabbit-skin robes with their feet toward sthe fireplace and are soon wrappedin s lumber.Before daylight all are awake, and

in a short time food has b een par

taken . of , the toboggans are loaded ,

the dogs harnessed, and slipping theirfeet in t o their snow-shoes , th e driverswith their teams d epalrt , fol lowingthe trail of t h e guide , for the next In

dian camp , perhaps twenty or thirty

miles away .

S pring at last arrives . and the h unter and his family again move to thenarrows in a lake where tw o other

families are also camped .

Owing to the current here , the ice

soon disappears , and soon are heard

the cries of the ducks , geese and

other wild-fowl , speeding north . F re

quently they alight on this s tretch of

open water, and as surely a number

of them fall to the guns of t h e~

alert

..Oj ibways . Finally the lakes , creeks

and rivers are all open , and snow an d

ice are almos t a thing of the past .

Some of the hunters are busy buildingthemselves new canoes , an d others in

their birch barks , sc6ur the surround

in g lakes“and streams . Game and

wild-fowl are plentiful , an d muskratsare killed

_

in profusion along thegrassy creeks ; n ow an otter ; n ow a

beaver falls to their guns ; an d n ot in

frequently a lean black bear adds to

their accumulating store of pelts .

Wab igon a Gis is—the month of June_ arriving

,the hunting season bein g

over, prep aration s for a visit to the

pos t are made , and in a short,

time allembark

,their canoes well loaded with

the proceeds of their spring hunts .

C am ping at night on the shore of a

lake or river and setting their fi shnets

,the journey is s lowly aecom

pl ish ed ,but at las t debouching from

the mouth of a river , they see on arocky promontory across the lake thewhitewashed buildings of the post .

E ach family have their regular camping ground n ot far from the post, andhere once more the tents and wigwams are erected . Soon the Wigwamis filled with vis iting friends and rela

t iv es w h o have arrived earlier“

and

w h o are camped a short distance

away .

The next day the hunters aecom

pan ied by their fami lies repair to t h e

trading post , where they are all m adewelcome and presented with tobacco,

flour and tea. The furs are produced

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

valued by the trader , deb ts are paidand then follows an orgy of shopping ;the hunters , squaws and children alltake their turn

“

at trading , until thefurs have been bartered in their eu

t irety . The store is full of Indians ofboth sexes

,

and all s izes , some standing and many squatting on the floorsmoking . The store is a general meeting place where new arrivals . gree-t

friends whom they las t saw nine

m onths before . This is the great so

cial event of the year, and every fewhours canoes of Indians are ’

espiedcros sing the lake , some coming to thepost , others to their camping grounds ,firs t to erect their dwellings . Here theIndians all rem ai n the greater part ofthe summ er, fishing and huntingmoos e for a subsistance . Th e nextgreat event of the summe r is t h e arrival of the Indian Ag ent, to pay thetreaty money, when th e women andchildren in the glory of their recentlypurch ased , and some-what gaudy ap

parel each receive at h i s hands , theirannual payment of

“four dollars per

head .

The arrival of the Agent is receivedwith

_ numerous and intermittent v ol

ley’

s of gun-fire by the Indians , andfrom then on until h is departure ,dances and feasting are the order of .

the day .

Soon fall comes around again, and“

once more th e Indian receives his ou tf it from t h e trader and returns to hisdistant h un t in g groun d .

29

The Indian of today, clad in thenonde-script gram en t s of the whites , i san Indian yet at heart, yet s h ow of all

that is pictu resque which made h im so

interesting .

The effects of civilization appeardifferen tly in the various bands . Mostof the old customs are gradually b reaking down , yet the most devout IndianC athol ic believes in his heart in witchcraft ,

an d t h e pow er of a man h e lnjure s , to do him evil .

The Roman C atholic religion is

peculiarly suitable to his temperament, as very wisely the J esuitFathers permit him to remain as hisforefather was ; a ch ild of nature , anddo n ot attempt to civilize him beyonda certain point .

E ducation beyond a certain point ,seems harmful rather than otherwisethough a mild course of education is

helpful in teaching him personal cleanl in ess , and also to read and -write in

h is own language . A knowl edge of theE nglish language is also b ecom ingmore necessary to

l

th e Northern Indian as civilization

.

encroaches , in en

abling him to, when necessary , workon the railroads and to—engage in guiding tourists .

Beyond this the Oj Ib way Indiandoe s n ot require training,

“as even

though his m ind were further develop

ed , h e‘

wou ld have few ppportun it ies of

employing his knowledge .

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Th e Thu n der Bay H istorical

Society

ev en 11 1 a

Papers of 1920

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PRESIDENT OF THE H ISTORI C AL SOC IETY

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

An n u al Address, 1920«BY THE PRESIDENT

Ladies an d Gentlemen :

I am glad to meet you “again at t h eclose of a year that has been comparat iv ely free f rom t h e d esperate rav

ages of War, su ch as we .had pas sedthrough during the previous fiveyears .

It is strange that th e World Wa r

open ednou lt , in the midst of great pro

gress in education and scienc e . I t i sto b e hoped that the final result of

the war'

will be the e stablishment ofa succes sful in ternational c ourt of“L eague Of Nations ,

” under which h umanit y w ill enjoy the sweets of Dem ocrat ic freedom for a t ime .

‘

We have su cceeded in,paying off

the debt ,of the Tablet, and hope to beable to beau tify the surrounding s soonafter b usiness affairs "become normal .

I may s ay that we have continuedin a mi ld way to advance th e in t eres tof the Society during the five to s ix

years of interna tional turmoil . We are

continua lly adding to,the records, pre

cipus papers. from personal witnessesof

"

the many stirring scenes of in d -u s

trial t rades , rebellions and Wars , in ,

the present and past days_in this

great North-west country . We .are n ot

over p articular . We secure gemsbearing on ou r subject, t ha t

_

we con

sider worthy of preserva tion in our

Annua ls , from an y reliable source .

I notice the S ecretary h as listed inthis is sue a lot of the mat erials b elonging to the S oc iety. There are alot more of Annuals , Ph otographs , etc .

in my pos se ssion to be turned in .

We are fortunate in having a ttracted to ou r ranks the prominent Factorof the Hudson

’

s Bay compan y, N .

M . W. J . McK en z ie . His experience inthe . fur-trading b usines s an d localitiesi s very extensive .

I may mention that we will m i ssou r faithful Vice-President , A . L . R u s

sell, C .

'

E . , wh o has removed b ack to

his old home in Ottawa , for a time atlea st .

-In pas sing I -must refer to the con

spicuou s vacancy that has occurred inour social c ircle in the

,death of ou r

mu ch esteemed mem ber, Mrs . E . B .

Oliver .

I wish herein to express my sincerethanks to the members wh o are up

holding t h e good work of t h e Soc iety,and especia lly to Mis s Black , our

faithful Secretary-“Treasurer . PE TE R

Mc K E LLAR .

MISS M . J . L . BLAC KSEC RETARY-TREASURER

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BERNARD ROSS

THUNDE R BAY'

HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY“

In stitu t ion .

By GAY PAG E ” M rs . J . M . Sh erk, Fort William

Th e Smiths onian institution , Was h é

in g-ton , D . C . , uses for a motto u pon

,al l its

’

publicat ions a th ought expres ~

‘

sed by the f loun derz—“E '

v ery m an

'

i sa Valuable mem ber of soc iety wh o, b yhis observations , researches, an d ex

perim en'

t s , procures knowledge for

men .

”

The w riter rem embered t hese wordsw hen , in prep aring the report Of theac tivities o f t h e mem b ers of t h e

'

C'

an

adian Women’

s Press club , to be readbefore the conv ent ion of C anadianwomen authors , journalis t s , an d artis t s in black an d white , at M ontreal ,in October 1 920, her attention was called to the fact that only on e of thetwo hundred od d members had given“research work , as qualification for

mem bership . So,_more to keep t h at :

lone on e company, than anything elseshe added as a report o f persona l

,work a note on the h elp sh e'

h ad beenprivileged to give to t h e SmithsonianInstitution in this» direction . On I ead

in g the report she found that the n ew

pres ident, Miss Lucy Swanto’

n Doyle ,of Toronto, as well as the retiring

president , Mars .

‘

Arth'

fi r'

M urphy , of

E dm On't-oh , known on m ore than on e

C ontinent a s .

“Janey C anuck , an d

others present at the congress , weredeeply interest-cd in the subject an d

asked the Hi storian to give a detail'

ed story of her research work. Thenthe words of the motto took on a n ew

m eani n g an d seemed to_

endow theh uInb le newsp aper woman with aclaim upon society asmember ,

”as sh e h ad been in s tru

m en tal ih procuring for the ,Washing ;

ton in stitution a record of none of itsmost Valued contrib utors t o t h e ex

- h ib it s demonst rating an d illustratingthe habi ts an d customs of th e

'

North

American Indians in C anada—M r.

Bernard R ogan R os s .

In order t o give some idea of t h evalue of th e article contributed byme t o the Smith sonian Institution ,let me give a - short ske tch of that fam .

ou s store-h ouse of wonders of the n ewwo rld and its chief func tions .

“

It is n ow a smal l -city o f fine build

“a valuable

or its

ings situated in Sm it h som an Park,

an d the mo st delightful approach isfrom the capitol , t hrough the parkan d Botanical Gardens , for on theway on e b ecomes well acqua inted wi ththe birds an d the squirrels an d . i sready to feel i n harmony with theIndians w h o knew so well the b irdsan d beasts , an d made friends

'

withthem . The quiet group of buildings ,filled with th e wonders of nature an d

art an d the trophies of scientific discov ery , has a world-wide reputationan d m en of learning fro-m a l l partsof the earth go there t o study its w on

ders .

I t,

Was founded in 1 846 b y JamesS mithson w h o, though born in F rance ,was of E nglish parentage an d wasa son Hu gh Smithson , wh o b y

his marriage with the daughter of acousin of the Duches s of Northum berland , assumed t h e name of Percy an d

. the founder of the institution inherited the right to the title o f E arl Percyan d Duke of Nor

-thu-m b erlan d . He wasborn in 1 75 4 , an d why he selec tedWashington as the s i te for the instit u t ion is n ot known . He probably saw

'

f in‘

the young nation a people w h o

w ould hunger an d thirst after know_ led-ge. So he g ave his entire fortune

.to found the estab lishment .for thein crease

'

an -d diffusion of knowledgeamon g m en . The b equest

,with

accumulated interest and other ihvestments , n ow amounts to ab out $ 1 ,

an d al l the operations mus tb e

'

carried on with t h e income fromthis very

' l imited .fund .

This i s the reason why anyone w h ocan ad

'

d‘

to its wealth o f informat ioncollections may feel , with

pride , that he is helping to endowthis tru ly great institution .

By law t h e institution is composedof the President of the United S tates ,the Vice-President, the C hief Justiceand the heads of the E xe cutive De

partm en t s . It is governed by a B oardof Regen-t s , consist ing of the ViceP'resident an d C h ief Justice , threemember s of the S enate and threememb ers of the Hou se of

‘

R epresen t

1 0 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

patriotic and philanthropic work , butalso as a recognition of the s ervicesrendered to scien ce by her fath er .

The Smithsonian , said Mr . Wolcott ,the secretary , i s the custodian andonly lawfu l place o f deposit of a l l the

objects of art and of foreign andcuriou s re search, and these col lec

tions constitute t h e national mu seum ,

free to t h e'world . The col lections givenby Mr . Ros s are especially rich in

natural history,geology, paleon t-ology

and ethn olog y of North Americ a . TheInternational E xchange , said Secretary Wolcott , is for free interchangeof s ci entific pub l ications and , ou t of

a treaty established in 1 889 , hasgrown the bureau of international exchan ge , ~an d the museum at Ottawa

m ay , on applica tion , secure the loanof the Bernard R oss exhibits , in dupl icat e, for a period o f time .

The autobiograph y secured for theSmithson ian from Mrs . Bernard R oss ,an d compiled '

b y' the writer of this

artic le , i s to be added to the descriptive volumes written by Mr . Ros s , an d

n ot on ly letters of thanks from the

Smithsonian b u t al so many courtesiesand

“valu able assistance in other re

search work , have rewarded the writer . The copy of the portrait of Mr .

Ross , wh ich was also added to thebiographical notes by Mrs . R oss , for

the illustration o f the addition to his

b ooks , was pre sented to Gay Pageb y S ecretary W'ol-cott , for use in herown work .

B iog raph ical Sket c hBernard . Rogan R os s , a uthor an d

C h ief Factor of the honorable th e

Hu dson ’s Bay company , w as the son

of th e late James an d E lizabeth‘

Ros s ,’

and w as born at Londonderry, (I reland ,S eptember 25 , 1 82 7 .

'

He came to C an

ada to enter the Hudson’

s Bay C om

pan y’

s service s under the patronageof S ir George S imps on ,

Governor of

the C ompany , w h o saw him first atthe home of —his uncle, Frank R oganat Londonderry . B e ,was educated atF -oyle college , Londonderry, an d wasa Fellow of th e

/

Royal“Geographical

Society, E ngland , 1 864 ; FoundationFellow of th e Anthropological Society!1 863 ; corresponding member of theNew York Historical S oc iety ; corres

pondent o f the Society Hall of the

Note—This paper was given byGay Page

” at the Dec em ber meeting

_

of the Thunder. B ay historical soc iety , 1 920.

Academy of N atural Sc ience of Phila ,

delphia , 1 861 ; C orresponding memb erof the Natural History Society of

, Montreal . He married , in 1 860, C hristina Ross , daught er of Donald R oss ,in charge of Norway House Distric t ,where all the Hudson ’

s Bay council swere held . His children : Mary Annabelle (Mrs . George A . Graham, FortWilliam , Ontario, C anada , ) first whitechild b orn at Fort S impson ; Franci sC urtis , and Bernard W illiam.

He came to C anada at the age of

fourteen , too late in'

t he season t o

proceed t o Norway House . He taughts chool during the winter at C ornwall ,and in the s pring traveled by canoeto N orway House , engaging in c lerical work for the Hudson

’s Bay C om

pany . fi -om Norway Hous e he wentto Fort Garry, n ow Winnipeg , an dfrom there to Fort Resolut ion , Great'

S lave Lake , an d afterwards t o FortS impson . He was t hen given chargeof the

_whole district of M cK en z ie

R iver,Where m ost of his valuable col »

lec tions were made . He made pres ent at ion s of v aluable specimens of m ammalia , b irds , skins and insects, to theBritish Museum , in 1 864 , and receivedletters of acknowledgment from theprincipal l ibrarian . He presented to

"

the Smithsonian Institution at Washin g ton , ,

D . C ., a general collection i l

lustrating the'

natural history and ethn ology of the M cK en z ie R iver Di s

t riet , from Fort S impson . F or"

thi sgift the Smithsonian Institution re

turned grateful acknowledgementMarch 2 5 , 1 861 . Another collection of

specimens was given Smithsonian Ihs t it u t ion i n 1 862

, a n d for this Bern ardR os s was asked -to accept a packageof books as an addition to his alreadyvaluable library, which he sharedwith other officia l s and servants of

the Hudson’

s Bay C ompany .

_

H e died at Toronto, Ontario , June21 , 1 874 , and is survived by his widow , who se home is in W innipeg , M an

i toba , and by his daughter, Mary Ann ab el le (Mrs . George A . Graham , FortW illiam , Ontario. ) He was a Masonan d a member o f the Anglican church .

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THUNDER , BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

BY M ISS BE LLE DOBIE

The following very interestingnotes from the diary of the late R ev .

D . M cK erach er, Presbyterian minister, wh o officiated at Port Arth ur and

Fort William in the early ’

70’

s , werecopied and presented to the HistoricalS ociety by Miss B el le Dobie .

[ 1 873 .

—S ilver Islet was under theS t udents

’ Knox C ol lege MissionarySociety an d opened for the first in1 873 . R ev . H . H . M cPh erson beingplaced in charge .

‘

Prince Arthur’sLanding was under the Home MissionC ommittee .

E xt ract s F rom Rev . D. McK erac h er’s

Diary ,

1 873 , May 8 .

-Embarked on theManitoba at Goderich .

1 873 , May -Vis I ted at S ault S te .

Marie .

1 873, May -Embarked - oh C h i

co‘

ra for Port Arthur .

May 1 5 .

—Arrived .

'

Met severalfriends . Dined

'

wit h‘

R ev . Mr : Halstead , Wesleyan Methodis t . (Mothersays he proved a

'

fait h fu l friend to theen d ) . Kindly rec

’d by Mr . Dobie intohis house till a more suitable placeis found (on e of the pillars of thePresbyterian cause from the beginning ) .

Friday, May 1 6.

—Made arrangements with t o

’

preachon Sab bath

“m orning in . his meeting

place in the basement of his ch urch .

May 1 7 -Went over in the mornin g on the tug to Fort William . Saw

Mr . Oliver and made the acquaintanceof some others . R eturned by th e

‘

t u g .

2 5 cents each way .

May -Preached in the morningto a congregation ”

of about fifty in thethe basement of the Methodist church ,

kindly . g iv en by Mr’

.Halstead . After

dinner went in t h e tug“Mills to . the

Fort and prea'

ched to about twent y .

Went thence to Mr . J . M cK el lar’

s ,

kind and intelligent people .

May 23 .

—Inquired "from ' M r. Machar re . lots for a church .

“

May 2 5 .

—Preached in the morningat th e Landing .

- Attendance about

sixty . Would probably have beenlarger were it n ot that the steamer

Manitob a was in sight . S h e was atthe dock when we came ou t . Thecaptain had the good sense n ot to

whistle , consequent ly the congregations were n ot di sturbed .

Was rowed over to th e Fort by twoyoung m en , C ameron an d M cK en z ie ,

an d p reached to about twenty. Thereis n ot that interest taken there thatwe would expect . S everal absent wh o'

should be there .

May 26.

—Joined the '

TemperanceLeague of this place . Temperanceis v ery

_

m u ch needed in this place .

May_

28 .

—Had some talk with Mr .

M cGilv ray re . the church lots an d alsowith Mr . Machar w h o said he wouldwrite to Mr . Johnson re . the On e s etapart b y the government .

June 4 .

—_ Le ft by the

“C umberland

for S ilver Islet . R eached S ilver Islet a bout, 5 o

’

clock . Met by Mr. MO4

Ph‘

erson . (This would be Rev . H . H .

M cPh erson who was miss ionary atthe Islet when father was at theLanding . He belonged to the KnoxC ol leg e class of 1 874 )

June 8 .

-Sabbath school on the af

t ern oon .

June 1 7 .

-Left on the . p m . wi thMr .

“M cP h erson , Mr . Halst ead an d

,

NM r.

Fletcher for the top cf M cK ay’

s mountain . Mistook the second ravine for

the first an d at t en o’

clock Campedon t h e top of the second bluff .“N earer My God to Thee” inference .

n ot“

wise to start so late in the dayon such - expeditions .

June 1 8 .

—Rained . Ou r tent wassm all and some -rain came t hrough it .At worship after breakf ast we sang“R ock of Ages ,

”. . probably where it

had never been sung before .

J une Arranged with Mr . M c

Gili'

v ray (M cGil v ray ) for a C ongre

g at ion aLmeeting .

June ' 24 .

—R eceived a letter fromM r.

_

Machar being a letter receivedfrom M r.

'

J oh n son ,assistant commis

s ion er of crown lands , Toro’

nto stat

1 4 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

ing that by an order in council theC anada l

presb y terian church was en

titled to a paten t for Park lot No. 6

North Pearl street, Prince Arthur’s

Landing .

Did .n ot succeed in having a meet»

in g this evening as intimated on Sab

bath . Vain is the trust in men .

‘

Maywe be led to a higher.

July 1 to 8 .

—Vis iting in connectionwith organization of S abbath school .

J uly 8 .

—Had a meeting at Mr;Ross

’

this evening at which Rev . Mr .

Black baptised Mr . Ross’

child , Mr .McK in non

’

s and Mrs . Paul’s . (TheR ev . Mr . Black was Rev . Dr. Blackof Kildonan , Man . My brother

’s wifei s a niece of Dr.

“being a

daughter of the late Rev . Jas . Blackof Hamilton ) .

July 1 5 .

—R eceived Mr . (Adam ).

Ol i

ver’

s consent to use his n am e _ as on e

of ou r trustees for church lot .

July 21 .

—After tea had a meetingat Miss C ameron

’

s when Mr . Oliver,Mr. Blackwood and Mr. M cGil v raywere elected as trustees to h old t h e

property'

of the congregation (3 1 -2

Also M r . Maitland , Mr. Dobieand Mr. M cDon ald were elected acom mittee of management .

July 22 .

—The S tr. Frances Smithcame in .

-near . 1 2 p .m h av inn .

R en n el son of the Sault“and friends.

from Toronto on board . R ev . Mr .

M cDon el l of S t . Andrew’

s church , To

ronto and Rev .

,

M r. C armichael of

King, both of the church of Scotlandon board , bound for . Man itob a on a

trip .

August 1 .

—Wrote to

.

the C rownLands ’ department for pat ent

“’for

C hurch lot here .

August 5 .

—The C umberland cameand stayed all night . A dan ce on

board . to demoralize ou r people .

Aug . 16.

—The Manitoba was tow

ed . in to F ort William this morning .

The first large steamer that h as everbeen there . The Hon . A . McK el lar,

commissioner of public works , was onboard .

Aug . 22 .

—Just finished writing serm on on P S .

“Thou Shalt GuideMe With Th y C ounsel and Afterward R eceive Me Into Glory . 0

.

that I resigned my self more fully to

this guidance , that I were more

watchful , against everything that

would b e displeasing to Him Wh otakes me by the hand and guides meto glory . O Lord aid me by Thy h b lyspirit that I may have more of themind of C hrist .

Aug . 23 .

-Last night we all had ascare from fire . Mr. Flaherty’s (Flagerty, I don

’

t know Which it is ) hot elwas burnt to the ground

, C ause ,whiskey , and yet this morning he hasopened up a bar in a Shanty acros sthe street . (S everal references occurthrough t h e diary on the need for

temperance . I once heard Dr . Pringleof the Yukon in a sermon make th e

remark that“Port Arthur was harder

in th e pioneer days than the Yukonever was ) . There

'

were 26 places inPort Arthur selling liquor whenfather

“

went there—the populationwas fluctuat ing , varying from ~ 800 to

1000.

Aug . 24 .

-S tr. Frances Smith'

at thedock and effectively destroying theSabbath quiet . About 60 at church .

C ollection for the students’ miss ion

foreign society . Amount

Aug . 30.

—A reference to an excursion t o Isle R oyle concludes . Th e

party being a mixed on e,there was

too m uch liquor drunk on b oard . Thislatter certainly is the disagreeable

. feature of excursions in this part of

the country .,

Aug . 3 1 .

-Twelve at the SabbathSchool . No

n

teachers . S ang severalhymns with the children and read t h e

1 7 th Of John with a few remarks .

Preached in the evening to ab out 70

from P S . 73 . The evening wasraining which kept some at hom e .

—While at dinner t h e tugJennie Ol iver came to S ilver Isletwith R ev . D . Gordon (his ol d pastor

R alph C onnor’s father ) and Mr . M c

Pherson on board . Went With themround Black ~ Bay to M cGoss

,

is lan d .

’

The tug lodged on a gravel reef

on starting back . Good lesson .

through M cG.

’s piloting . An episodeWhiskey is the curse of this country Got . back to S ilver Islet about

3 a m .and succeeded in finding my

way into Mr . John Davidson’

s

S ept . 7 . Gordon preachedon S abbath evening to over 100 from

“

P s .

-2 . . His discourse was marked

‘

b y his usual vig or of th ought anddelivery and it was well listened to,

throughout .

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1 6 THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

The H eavens God’s glory do deClare

,

The skies his handworks preach .

S ept . 1 7 . Vis ited s everal parties inthe afternoon and made arrangemen tsfor a meeting of the committee ofmanagement to appoint a buildingcommittee .

At the meeting tonight the following Building C ommittee was

'

appoin t

ed with power to add to their n um

ber : Peter Nicol son, Robt . Maitland ,T . B . Horner, D . M cK erach er

S ept . 2 1 . At a conference With Mr .

Halstead t his afternoon we appointedthe fol lowing officers for a branchOf the Bible S ociety at

"

P . A .

'Lan'

ding :Rev . Wm . Halstead , R ev . D . M c

K erach er.

vice-president ; Mr . E .

Mitchell , secretary ; Mr , Sproule , de

pos itary ; Mr . Preston ,“

treasurer ; Mr .

R obt . Maitland , committee ; Mr . Wm .

Parke,Mr . John Vivian .

This afternoon at Mr . Horner’

,s Mr .

Maitland , Mr . Hom er and myself b eing present we decided to advertisef or

"

tenders for building t h e gch u rch .

R eceived from Mr . Dobie“for salary

S ept . 22 .

M cK el lar for salary . Gave to

ward the building of the school houseat

"

t h e river .

'

S ept .“29 . Doubtful whether

should proceed with the church -

or

n ot . There is st ill some uncertaint yabout the place .

S ept . 30. Sabbath S chool excursionan d picnic : on Welcome I sland . Allpas sed

‘

Off well . The day was very

fin e for so late in the season .

Oct . 3 . No word from Mr . Youngabout specifications for

‘

ch u rch . We

we

must g o On without them and use

th ose we have .

0 Lord , guide us an d give us_wis

dom in this . matter and may a placeof worship be built where many soulsshall be born anew unto God .

_Pre

p are u S for the services , of Thy day .

an d house .

Oct . 4 Walked to the q t an d

preached for the'

first time in the'

newschool house to a good congregation .

Oct . 6. E ndeavoring to get newplans for the church .

Oct . 7 . Meeting Of the BuildingC ommittee ; Mr . Neil Shaw to draw up

R eceived from J .“

specifi cat ion s in accordancewit h t heplan furnish ed .

Oct . 10. Let contract forchurch toMr. Jas . Ross for $420.00.

Oct . 1 2 . Found Mr. Oliver wo'

uldn ot furnish the lumb er for t h e ch urChas expected .

Oct . 1 3 . S eeing the difficulties int h e way of Ob taining the materialfor the C h urch , I drew ou t a plan fora lecture room ; which I - fi n d Commends itself to most of ou r peopl e .

C alled on Mr. Halstead about theheating Of t h e church an d was toldthat they considered it

‘

would costwhich we would b e expect

ed to pay half . I'

S‘

aid I would report

that to the committee .

Oct . 1 4 . Difficulties in the way of

church b u ild in g‘

t h e Sam e, _

as before ,but . the lecture room scheme growingin favor .

Meeting of Managing C ommittee tonight . R esolution deferring action in

reg ard to the Methodist church passed , also resolution urging the com

m it tee t o build a lecture room immer

d iately .

Oct . 1 5 5 Saw Mr . Oliver this morning an d found that

“

he must get 2 3cash _ down and t h e other

_

1 -2 nextsummer, a proposal which we are u n

able t o meet . Gave Mr . Oliver a billof the lumber requi red for the sm al ler

building .

Oct .

"

1 6. Ordered window sash - for

the lecture room .

.Drew up specifi ca

tions for the le cture room in companywith Mr . Neil S h aw .

Oct .

’

20. Found M r.

‘

Ross Was willin g to accept the C ommittee

’

s offerfor the building of t h e lecture room .

Oct . 22 . M arried '

to Mary MatheSon , daughter Of Mr . F . Matheson

.

S tornoway , S cotland , the Mathesonsof R OS S Shire .

Nov . 2 . First manse Mr . M c

Nabb’s house on Arthur street .

Nov , Organiz ed ; a S abbathschool a t the Fort; Superint endentMr . Peter M cK el lar.

Teachers—Mrs . N eil Wh ite , MissM . M cIn tyre ,

Miss C . Mcv icar, MissK . M cK el lar.

Dec . 23 . C hristmas tree and bazaar'

in aid of Presb yterian church , held

in dining room of Queen’

s hotel , solelyunder t h e management of Mrs . D . M .

Blackwood . Financial success .

THUNDE R BAY"

HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

Dec. 26. Day chiefly spent in fitting ou t the lecture room .

Su n . Dec . 27 . Opening of ou r new‘

lecture room for divine worship .

Weather mild . Good atten dance .

Texts for the d ay s Mornin g , Is .

afternoon P s . In the eveningR ev . Mr . Halstead preached fromMat .

In connection with the C hristmas .

tree some of t h e young people wished to have a dance at the en d . Fatherand mother both took a decided standwhich they never regretted . Mothers aying she would rather see the moneyin the bottom of the lake than thatthey should say the ' PresbyterianC hristmas tree ended in a dance .

Feb . 12 3 , Meeting of Bui ldingan d Managing C ommittees . Affairsfound t o be fully as satisfactory asexpected .

_

Mr. Peter N icolson’

s namewas added to the C ommittee of Manag em en t .

March 2 . First sess ion nominations ; This evenin g b ein g

' th e meetin g for the n om in at ion for the eldership ,

‘

the following were'

nominated ;

Benjamin S inclair, Sr. ,R obt . Mait

land , Joh n M cK in n on , Jas . C raig Wm .

Blackwood , John Bennie .

The last two gentlemen h ave sincesent in written withdrawals ;

March 1 4 . Mr . .B enU

S in clair Sr

and Mr. Robt . Maitland, first session ,

were elected to be . elders f or P . A .

Landing .

March 1 8 . After vainly at t emptingto reach the Mattawan for two daysbecause of a severe snowstorm, Ireached there about 7 p m . and

,unitedin m arriage Mr.

‘

E m ery La Lon dean d M is s Mary Aitkins . This is thefirst couple I h av e married . May

they be happy .

April 4 . At the close of the service ordained M r. Benjamin

"

S inclair ,S r. and Mr . Rob t . Maitland

,as elders .

Th1s constituted the first sess ion of'

t h e Presbyterian church,at Prince

Arthur’s Landing . May the Lord giveus all grace for ou r duties

April 23 . Was in the afternoon ata social for the children of the S . S .

at the river, the first everheld there .

All p assed off very pleasantlyJuly 3 . Meeting of Building C om

m it tee at which it was decided to ad

v ert ise for tenders for the'

erectionof a manse .

1 7

July 1 9 . Building C ommittee foundthere were three tenders for themanse varying from to $77 5 .

November 5 . Mr . Wright schoolteacher appointed as Superintendentof the S abbath S chool .

November 1 5 . Moved to manse .

Dec . 5 . S pecial collection for

Knox . C ollege over This is thefirst collection for an outside objectever taken at th is place .

Father left P . A . Landing in Oc

tober, 1 880. In 18 73 he was n ot or

dained . In 1 874 he went as an or

dained missionary at the request of

t h e_

P . A . Landing people . He - ré

mained there as an ordain ed missionary .

When the C . P . R . was being builthe voluntarily went half way up theline

,to Winnipeg to minister to t h e

m en . H e had the oversight of miss ion aries at S ilver Islet and otherpoints . The lecture room an d manse

'

at Pt . Arthur an d the church at theTown Plot (Fort W illiam ) were builtan d pa id - for while he was there . Mr .Herald

'

was his successor .

In order to help funds ou t an d to

accommodate the public , school wastaugh t in the lecture

'room the firstwinter .

Father felt that the lecture roomwould serve the purpose while the townwas small an d that an y church theywould be able to build then would beentirely inadequate a few years later .

The lecture room was later sold foi

a dwelling. There is an ol d photoin the h ouse showing the lectureroom , t h e first manse where motherwent as a bride . Father and motherare in the picture going up to th edoor . The picture was taken b y anephew of the late Lord Tennysonw h o was living in Port Arthur at th etime .

When father was asked by t h e H .

M . C ommittee what type of man they

should send‘

for the C . P . R . work ,

he replied to send a_man wh o w as

phys ically fit, a man w h o would be

able to help a teamster with a load

of pork an d flour out of a rut and live

on th e pork and flour after h e g ot

to his destination . R evs . Hamiltonand J . R . Johnston were miss ionaries to S ilver Islet as well as R evs .

C aswell an d M cPh erson when father

was at the Landing .

1 8 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

We have also an old photo of thepupil s and teachers in the P . S choolat Port Arthur, Mr. Wright was

principal and Isabella Dobie on e of

the pupils .

The following_ lis ts appear in a note

book :

P . A. Landing S . School , J uly 7 ,1 873 :

1 . Wilson C ameron .

2 . J oh n M cK in n on .

3 . Mary C ameron

Mary M cK in n on .

5 . Mi lly C ooper.

6. E lizabeth F lora Wilcox.7 . Robert M cGilv ray.

8 Wil liam McGilv ray .

F rank Wilcox.S ome other lists written in leadpencil are n ow so faded th at it is al

most impossible to read them .

10.

'

C hristina Jane C ameron .

1 1 . C arrie May Young .

1 2 . Lillie Ros s.

1 3 . Ada R oss .

1 4 . Isabella Dobie .

1 5 . Robert Emmons .

16. Frank Emmons .

1 7 . C aroline Jones .

18 . Marion Jones .'

1 9 . Margaret Victoria Jones .

20. J ohn Henry Gardner.

The‘

teachers were Mr. M cK in n on .

Mr. Smith , Miss M cK in n on , Mr . M c

Innis .

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20 THUNDE R BAYH ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

- I observe that the governor an d

council last.sum m er at Norway house

resolved , that . you‘

(among other

c lerks ) are Offered £ 100 per annumon a three year con tract .

~commen cin gfirst June 1 85 7,- I therefore on accountof regularity enc lo se you an engagem ent to sign , which do in pre senceof two witnesses

,

and return the en

gagem en t to me first opportunity .

”

He then app arently immed iately wrotea letter to Mr .

"

Louis Dennis Delaronde in charge of Nipigon Post, whereWives an d other interesting subjectswere

'

n ot lost Sight of . He appearsthrough

'

_

all h is c orrespondence to

have ' the S mallest"

details,“at hi s fing

ers’

end as it should be , and neverfails to

‘

impress on all h is pos tm an a~

gers the necessity '

of econom y , and tolook well to the welfare of the hunters

‘

atach ed to his post , and e specia~1 ~

ly the women an d He saysin part to Mr. D elaron d e , your ser

vices‘

here this season will not be re

quired, and in that case , you will ofcourse remain at N ipigon , keepingwi th you Bouchard and

'

Sam 'C olin asyour summer m en .

" You m ust eu

d eav or .to make arrangements witht h e Indians you send here With yourreturns , that if their services are re

quired in the boats for’

M ichipicotonto the Long Port age an d back , theywill go without grumble or the leas thesitation , for which they w ill be paidthe same pric e as ou r Michipicotonengaged Indians, viz £3 each for the

t rip , beside s the same quantity of

flour as a gratuity as they had last

y ear .

'

I observed last season that a

g reat numb er of wom en .an d childrenhad accom panied the crews of yoursand the Pic

’

s boats to this place ,’

an d

for wh y ? Though I have made enqu irie s I cannot ascert ain . It cannot bethat the women and children accom"pany their husband to draw their g ov

ernm en t . ann uities , for the greaterpart

,indeed , I may say al l

l

of the N ip i

g on people receive their annuities atF ort William . I t h erefore

'

h ope you

will endeavor to prevent as much as

you pos sibly can this annual vis it a t

M ich ipoton of t h e'

Nipigon - ladie s andtheir youngsters , for

‘

you know as wellas I do that ou r means of feeding insummer even t the

'

M ich ip icoton'

fam il

ie s are n ot over abundant . C olin and

Deschamps at an y rate ought to haven o excu se for bringing their wive s

-here ,‘

as it . is my intent ion they‘

return at once to N ipigori .

’

The - Ind iansindeed , m ig h t h av e more excuse , an d

say that they would n ot com e herewithout their wives , in which casewe must su bm it ; but I h ope you .

will,

with your excel len t Way you havewith them , endeavor to point ou t

’

to

them h ow [much be tter thei r wiveswould be , fed on fish inland , and thatthey themselves

,would h av e

i

al l theirv oy ag in g rat

’

ion s at their own disposal . Try your best .”

The Indians from Albany , MartinF alls and Osnaburg, all belong to

James Bay‘

d is trict , sometimes camein to Lake Superior District t o tradeand in consequence would leav e

'

t h eir

d eb t s f‘

ou t s tan d in g in James Bay ,

“Thi s

used to cause con siderable friction‘

b e

tween th e d is‘

trict s and in this - con

n ect ion , he wrote letters to the Postmanagers of Long ’ Lake

,the Pic , , N i

p igon and Fort William , and said inpart :

“I w rite Mr . Miles last summer

regarding advances ,

at Martins Fall s

an d Osnaburg to Indian s of Lake Superior dis trict ; as usual they“complained of the Lake Su

perior g ent lemen . No further ad

vanc es will however be given in theBay to Lake Superior Indians , and

t hat I have‘

to request that‘

shouldan y of their Indians come you ig w ay ,

that whatev er furs, you receive f rom

t h em b e credited to their Post and ad

van ces charged . in the .

Q

sam e way .

”

This was done to prevent the Indiansfrom w andering outs ide th eir ow n

distric t an d also t o keep them withinthe bounds of t h e post they were at

tached to, an d where they received

_ their advances in th ej fal l . This treatment induced them to

u

be and remai nhonest , and pay their d ebts . This _ruleand regulation

[had a good-effe ct

throu ghout the whole country , andthere

“was never any more trouble in

this connect ion afterwards . Aga inwriting

'

to_

Mr . John Mc In tyre, w h o

was in charge of Fort W illiam,-

_

h e

says ,‘

fOn looking over your account s

o f l ast .winter I find that n o p rovisions were furnish ed

,S ir George S imp

son’

s crews for the’

voyage to the ih

terior at Fort W illiam ,_

i t i s possible ,b ut im prob able that, t h ey in igh t hav eh ad enough on hand . Please informme on this poin t .

(1 8t h There is to be ‘

acouncil here thi s summer an d as i t

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY 21

i s likely more than the usual number

of members w ill be present, I willhave to look to you for a supply of

provisions for the occasion . If you

have a good yearling ox you will pleasesend h im down by th e

'

v essel , b u t ifn ot a calf of this sprin g

_

'

w il l answerthe purpose , such o ther

,sup,pl ies ,

,

as

good butter, cheese , eggs , et c . , I shallexpec t from you when the governorpasse s Fort Wil liam on .his way downor

'

an y o ther opportu nity .which maycast up abou t the beginning of July . Ianticipate good returns from

'

all postsin the dist rict as martens appear tohave been numerous and none of theIndians have suffered from star v ationduring the winter .

_

The distributing warehouse for LakeSu perior

‘

an d Lake Huron distric tswas at the Sault - :S te . Marie an d acousin

‘

of S ir George S impson was inch arge

,whose name was - also S imp

son . On the 10t h of -June. _1 85 7 Mr.

M cK enz ie wrote to him as follow s :The schooner

‘

arrived here thi s afternoon from Fort Wi lliam , and weather

perm it in g sh e will sail early tomorrow for the Sault -

.S te Marie . I wouldfeel obliged by your loading, if it canbe spared , on e cask of whiskey

, In :

dian -

corn , pork , maple sugar, _

20 or

30‘

barrels of flour , 1ard_

an d tallow ,

an d a couple of boxes of clay pipes .

I b eg to refer to the cargo book for

the su pplies on board the schoo .nerMr. M cIn tyre has sent ou t a b ox said !

to contain £1 80 in cash , an d fromthis place I forward some bank bil lsamounting to received fromMoose Factory

"

last ' season whichsums please carry to the credit of thedistrict outfit 1 85 7 . After receipt of

Lake Huron fur returns please sendthe schooner back as soon as p ossible .

I send b y this Opportunity the bat“

t eau x’

y ou asked'

for which I‘

hope youwill find a

- good on e ,

“as also sundry

tinware on y our requisition of‘ last

year . Whatever E nglish goods mayhave arrived at the =

‘

Sault for eitherMi-c-h ipi-coton or F ort Will iam please

_ _put on board this trip an d s h ou ld

there be any room in the -vesse l itcan be filled up with the remainderof the ou tfi t , such as rough cor-n ,

pork , f lour ..an d

'

salt . :If y ou can supply

'

40 g al lon s“w h iskey for Fort W il

l iam , I would feel obliged ,as from the

l eakage in the 2 casks sent up lastfall we were run short Of that arti

idea of the.

c le . I re-ship in the vessel the E nglishgoods received last trip for . F ort Wi lliam . I will write to Mr . M cIn tyre

directing him what supplies to takeou t of the v essel when she arrivesthere . I would wish the schooner to .

be back at Fort ,

William by the 1 5 t h

or 1 8t h ins t , an d an y letters for S ir

George S impson had better be sent

b y her .

(August 23rd ,1 85 7 ) On t h e 23rd o f

August C hief Factor M cK en z ie

was appointed to _ the charge of ,an

other District , an d C hief Trader ~W i lliam Watt was appointed by orderin cou ncil in his

"

stead to the chargeo f Lake Superior district with head

quarters still at Michipicoton .

The foregoing w ill give. you a good. general routine of on e

of the ol d Hudson’

s Bay districts .

Fort W illiam was on e of the bestposts in t h e district . They had quite af arm here an d raised all kinds of

grain , pigs , cattle , hens , geese , turkeys

,ducks

,an d v egetables , _ besides

furs,

'there were extensive fisheries“both here and at .S t . Ignac e , beside ssupplying several of t h e

'

in lan d Postswith cured fish an d other .

‘

p'

rov i sionsmany schooner cargoes went down to'

S ault S te . Marie an d were disposedof to good advantage , and—sometimes ,

at a handsome profit . The gentlemeni n charg e of the district had to vis iteach post in his district at least

‘

oncein each year ; This trip was - generallymade during the summer , if at allpos sible , When he made a general inspect ion of all an d sundry equipment ,and gav e his pos tm anag ers verbal aswell as written instructions . regardin g advances to Indians , an d also

th e conduct of the trade generallyduring the following winter .

on the 26th of Au gust 1 85 7 -M r .

Watt writing to Mr . W . M . S impsonat the S ault S te . Marie , says in part :

I cannot say when the“Is abel

”(that

is the schooner ) will again g o to theSoult , more than likely I w ill n ot sendher u ntil sh e go es with the produceof the Fort W ill iam fishing late in

the fall,which I dou bt

‘ will n ot suitMis s M cIntyre , for in that case shecould only go to this place in the vesSel , an d the chances will be verysmall indeed of the young lady join

ing h er parents this season at FortW illiam . I imagined that Miss M c

Intyre arrived safely _

a t Fort William

22 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC -AL SOC IE TY

as the schooner - I sabel'

made t wo

voyag es from the Sault to Fort W ilel iam -that same fal-l . On e voyage beingrecorded as a S

'

peéial trip .

C hief Factorch arg e of 'Lake Su peri or di stric tabout . 1 8

‘

79 . He was a m an wel l and"

favorably known in this d is tric t . Afterhe retired he went for a trip to Daw“son C ity in t h e

'

Yukon . When returm

ing, the steamboat he w as on , eu

countered bad weather, and was

wrecked ,’

h e and many-others of t h e

passengers and crew were drowned .

There is a“

station on the C anadianNorthern railway north o f here calledPeter B ell , so named in m em ory

'

o f

him .

Donald - M cTav ish' was

cha rge of this district .

In later years , 1 88 1 , Alexander Math eson was in charge Of th e d i strictw ith headquarters at Fort W illiam,

and where the headquarters of th e

district still . remain . He l ived to,a

good ol d Page and Was buried’

at N ipi

gon .

Fort W illiam was at on e time themost impo

‘

rtant place west of Men

treal , and had a population in 1 81 4 of

about which is over a c enturyago . It has a population today of

aboutFort William ceased to be a Hu d

son’

s Bay company fur trading postin, when t h ej c

-om pan y b uilt on

S impson street , on e of their l ine of

sale shops , which were distin ct fromtheir fur posts .

'I t was . b u rn ed down in1 91 4 and has n ot been re-

‘

b -u il t .~M r. M .

S . Beeston was th e manager an d has

since retired on -pension ._

Lake Superior di strict office is n ow

located at 1 3 5_north May street in thi s

C ity,from whi ch over 20 posts in the

interior receive their instru ctions an d

guidanc e , as in years gone b y . Mys uccessor , an d previous Assistant D istriot Manager, Mr . John Duncan Mc

Kenzie,bein g the gentleman in

charge of the district at the presen ttime . Some of the old post s of 1 8 5 7

are still doing business, n otab lyi M is

san ab ie , Long Lake , an d Nipigon . The

following is the present (February1 920) executive of Lake S uperior district , an d a li st of the post managersin the district as at present establishedw h o look to their district officer , JohnDuncan MacK enz ie ,

E sq,for instruo

tions an d guidance in the fur trade :

also in

Peter.B ell

'

Was in

E xecutive officers , at Fort William1 3 5 North May street .John Duncan MacK en z ie , district

manager.

Henry G. Woods , assistant d i strictm anag ei

J . H . A .

“

W ilm ot, district accounta'

n t .Alex . Anderson, clerk .

Percy C‘

rewd son , c lerk .

List of . posts in Lake Superior distriet , February 1920:Wh ite Dog

—Thomas Young, manager .

(On e Man ’

_s Lake—B aptis te Fisher.

manager .

Osnaburg—R ich ard Hooker, manager .Lac

“S eul—J-abez "W illiam s

, mana ~

ger .

Wa‘b u skan g'

Grassy Narrows—Donald Murch ison ,

manager .-D'inorwic—Lorne Johnson , manager .

Fort Hope—S idney A . Taylor ,'

m an :

ager .

Attawapiskat—T homas S . R it ch ,

man’

ager .Grahame

—L aurie J . W illiams , manager .

Hudson—Harold E . R ac e , manag er .

P ine R idge—Robert; Young, manager .

Bucke—Henry Lawf son , manag er .

C at Lake—Alex .-Lawson , _

manager .

S avant—David Wright , manager .

Al len w ater—aF red K ah noosh e, m an

ager.

N ipigonmanager .

.Mobert—Henry Bu sch , managerLong Lake—Philip H . Godsell , M an ;

ager .

Kowkash —Halverager.Missanabie—Peter Finlayson , m an :

ager .

Nipigon—Herbert B . W illiams , m an

ager .

. .Mattic e—Frank H . Alders , manager .

I n 1 909—10 I was inspecting officer in Peace R iver and Athab ascadistricts . In 19 10. I was appointed to

take charge o f Lake Huron districtwith headquarter s at North B ay.

'

onmy appointment to the

"

charge of

Lake Superior d is tric t , in 1 91 2 thepost

“managers of Lake Huron pre

sented Mrs . M acK en z ie an d my self

HOu-se—Patrick M cGu iré,

’

Halv erson f m an

‘

with“

a b eau t ifu l il lu‘

m inat ed address .

a ccom panied w ith a solid . silver tea

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24 THUNDE R BAY'

HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

thoughtfulne ss ,energy and

‘

abilitym ad e t h e erection of this his toricalm omum en t; poss ible , . so that fu turegenerations for al l time can read on

the engraved t ablet the history of the.past , where the early pioneers , ou r

ancestors , were n ot afraid to blazethe trail and p repare the way for themillions that have yet t o arrive

“

in this'

g reat C anada of'

ou rs , wh ere'

it s’

history is written and preserved in .Tablets an d monuments

_of stone , and stir

t h e nat ion on to greater deeds of valor and distinction for the uplifting of

humanity , an d th e higher ideals of

civilization and good will among all All rights reserved.

I

McK :

members of the human race .

Mr . President , Ladie s'

an d Gentlemen , I must n ow thank y ou for yourkind attention in listening to my very

leng thy paper an d h ope som eth ingmay-

'

b e found in it that Will b e u se

ful and valuable to future h i storians .

I have therefore Mr . President, muchpleasure , in presenting my paperthrough y ou to the Thun der B ay hist orical society, as its custodians .

Again thanking you I will wish you

all goodnight and pleasant dreams .

Fort W ill iam , February 27th ,1 920.

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY

BY N . M . W. J . M C K EN Z IE

On the 26t h of March , 1 885 at DuckLake,

'

th e first Shot was fired , whereseveral volunteer citizens of PrinceAlbert , North West M ounted Policem en , an d a n um b er of th e half -breedR eb els , w ere eithe r killed or woundcd x Th e n ew s . spread like wild-fi rethroughout the Dominion , troops wererushed from the E ast under commandof General Middleton . All right , thefight

‘

was on , . the SOu n d fof war was inthe air . I am only -going to touch veryl ig h t l

’

y'

On the seriou s happenings Ofthe next few month s , an d it is firstnecessary to go back some years to

find the cause an d chain of circum ~

stances that led up to,

‘

an d culminatedin , this ever to be deplored

'

26th - o f

March , 1 885 .

I will be as b rief as possible an d

will at once —say , that the R ebellion of

1 869—70,an d the rebellion of 1 88 5 ,

was the ambitious an d malicious aspirations , having at the bottom .of itall , selfish aggrandizement at the _expense of a few un sophisticated h alfbreeds , whom he was using as toolsin trying to extort more money fromthe government , f or his ow n private

use , when h e (

would leave them in t h e

lurch as he had done after '

th'

e,1 870

affair, When he pocketed the moneythat was pai d him to leave the coun’

try for the tim e being, an d took up re

s iden ce in the U . S . A . , being a t thattime a fu gitive from justice

,- I mean“

Louis R iel .”

He‘

w as a naturalized citizen of theU nited S tates, teaching school in .

Mon tana , in when he was in v ited by some - o f the influential halfbreeds in S askatchewan to come to

C anada : an d assist t hem t o_

impres stheir wishes upon the governmen t atOttawa, t o grant them scrip to ext in g v

n i sh t heir rights as was being donewith the Indians -b y Treaty . LouisR iel saw a chance here to make an

oth er claim for indemnity on th e gov

ernm en t if h e would again leave thecountry, an d

,

claimed butsaid he would take in cashan d g o at onc e . That wa s in Dec . 1 884 ,h e claim ed th at the C anadian govern

2 5

ment owed him about an dthat he was prac tically the half-breedquestion, and said ,

“if I am

’

satisf ied

n ow an d said ,“if the federal govern

m en t s h ou ld grant him thi s,the half

breed question would still rem a in thesame and R iel w ould be the only on eto prof it at their expense

.

“Louis R iel-Was well educat ed , extremely visionary , an d d ang erously imaginary .

Hehad two special strings to his b ow atthi s time . He wanted to form an d

followers , coupled with unt old wealth ;or he would take for h isshare an d leav e the cou ntry . Th eformer his objective , the latter hisal tern at iv e .

‘

He did n ot attain either,

but was hanged for treason at R eginaon .Nov . l 6th , 1 885 , after being givena fair an d ju st trial

.

H . B . C oy’

s . Post at C rooked Lakes,

wh ere the Indians were being gathered in from the great plains after the

disappearance of the Buffalo, an dp laced on large R eservations by theGovernment , where the d estitu te an dneedy amon g them were being regularly rationed an d clothed .

Indians thought . they were n ot'

gett ingsufficient rations , so they took t h e lawinto their own hands

, an d b roke intothe Government Provisio

‘

n S tores ,maltreated the Indian Agent an d t ookall the flour an d bacon they required .

E xc it ement ran high throughout' the

whole camp . This called f or quickaction on th e part of the Government ;a detachment of Mounted police wassent dow n from Regina

,things did n ot

look at a l l healthy for a day or tw o,

as they resisted arrest,and barricaded

th emselves in a building all fully armed , an d i n their war-paint

.

The rin gleaders were ul timately arrested , taken to R eg ina, an dgiven suspended sentenc e

,explaining

26 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

fully to them what that meant .The rations were increased after

that , but“it took some time for the

exc itement of the whole episode to

die ou t . I just mention this incidentas there were over on e thousand Indians im plicated in this

,w hich might

easily have 'become a most serious affair for the government as well asthe Indians , and was only averted byalmost super-human diplomacy ,

Ionly here giv e an outline of

‘

w h at

took place , having given a f ull ac

count of i t in detail in its proper placein my book which wi ll be in the handsof th e publishers soon . Th ere wasvery hard times a l l over the countryfor a f ew years a t that time am ongt h e w hite set tlers as well as the Indians : an d half-

“breeds on account of

the great drought which prevailed as

well as gophers and early frosts .

Many of the settlers'

were leaving thecountry financially broke and d is

heartened and many others were u n ‘

able to leave,

an d'

had to struggle on

as best they could ; many of the set ~

t lers sold their homes (160 acres ) fo:a mere song, in order to get enoughgrub t o take them ou t of the frozenan d dried up country as quickly as

pos sible . The outlook was certainlybleak at that time . The half-breedsWere n ot in an y better pos ition than

the‘

rest of the settlers , many of themmoving west towards Battleford an d

Prin ce Albert where they thoughtthey might be able t o make some kindof a

,

1i‘

v in g b u t as it t'

urned ou t afterwards they had an inkling of whatmight take p lace as they expectedthat they would get the much talkedof scrip . that they were to get fromthe Government at least it was urgently applied for b y the Saskat ch e

wan half-breeds . At C rooked Lakes‘

we had all kinds of Indian rumorsduring the fall and early winter of1 884 . Mysterious Indian an d halfb reed strangers appeared among t h e

Indians on the R eserves from timeto t ime an d disappeared again asmysteriously as they came . But therewas always undue excitement amongthe Indians after these periodical visits , which roused my suspicions . Iknew every Indian and thoug ht I hadthe confidenc e o f them all , but

'

I feltthat there was some news com ingon t h e R eserve that they had no t toldme , most of the hal f-breeds that w ere

living with Indian w omen on the Re

serve had moved away in the fall,

the excuse that they gave their wo

men was that they were going to vis- it

"

some of their relations at“Battle

ford or some far distant point and’

would poss ib ly n ot return till,

spring .

It was well after N ew Year (85 ) before I go t to the bottom of all thesemysterious moves . The young m en

were holding secret'

cou n ci l s an d theol d

‘

men w ere also h aving secret councils . This was a very uncommon pro~

ceed in g and very u nusual,I found ou t

from some of t h e women What it wasall ab out . Those strangers that hadbeen paying apparently friendly visit swere under t h e instructions

_

of LouisR iel and their b usiness and me ssagewas tO

‘

excit e and rouse up the . l n

d ians to go on the war-p ath , an d beon their g uard and prepare

~

themselve s f or any thin g, to plunder

, rob

and kill as soon as they got the sign al , that t here would be great doingsbefore the g rass was green again ,

that '

R iel was going to b ring back theb uffalo again an d that they all wouldhave plenty to eat only be ready to dohis bidding—and to make them dou‘bly sure of his power

/

that on a c ertain day he w ould cause the su n t o

be darkened at noon in a clear sky .

A whole lot of st u ff‘

l ike that had beentalked into them by these runners .

NO' wonder these supers t i tu t iou s half

breeds and half barbarian savageswere excited and thirsting for blood .

I g ot busy and called a meeting of al l

the chiefs and old men to come to

the store , gave them a cu p of tea ‘ anda smoke then told them that I kneweverything that was going on at alltheir council meetings although theyhad been trying to hide

_

it from me .

How mad and fool i sh they‘

were to

lis ten t o all the storie s that were h ein g ‘

carried‘

around the R eserves b y .

men w h o did n ot care for them, only

to the extent’

that they could usethem for their diaboli cal purposes andcertainly n ot f or the good of th e In

dians .

No matter what R iel was doing itwas n o concern of theirs , the government had made a treaty with themand was looking after them , and theywould also look after R iel and punishhim if h e was doing anything wrong .

Wh y do you n ot call me to,your

council meetings lately, as you used

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28 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IETY

in g . E ngine s w ere kept continually

hitched u p to coaches at Broadview to

take th e women an d children away .

At the firs-t signs , volunteer scoutswere watching between B roadviewan d the R eserve a distanc e of only 12or 1 5 mile s fro-m where the bulk of“the Indians were . The scouts cameto me

”

once or-t wice and begged me

to g o away with them as I was th eonly white m an on the reserve an d

was only remaining -there t o be scalped . I told them they had better all g oas no on e could say What

“would hap

pen an y day ,‘

tha t all reports w erevery startling an d a great many of

them false,yet I thought the wom en

an d children should be moved awayfrom B roadview without an y delay , asthere was great danger of the Indian s from Moose Mountains comingthat way .

‘

I said I think I have the

confidence of the Indians ,_ even if

they are On the. warpa th . I will n ot

g o w ith you ,I have a duty to perform .

I will stay here a mong the Indiansan d try my best t o hold them on thereserve

, an d should I be the first v ictim to loose my scalp they will -have

_

to do some -'

cl imbing to g et ita l thank

you ever so much as w ell as the ci t

izen s .of Broadview for your kind of

fer an d intentions on m y behalf , butI c an n ot

'

an d will n ot leav e m y. - postalive .

They Saw t hat I'

w as in earnest

an d this being the s econd time thatthey h ad come ou t for me , they started back for Broadview an d I d id n ot

see any of th em'

again . until afterB atoch e was taken an d t h e R ebellion

all over . I sure «was alone n ow , as

ence an d pow er to prevent them ,«a

regular deadlock for several days—Iwas fully conversant w ith the ir plansof action by this time . They intendedto move west on the north S ide of thevalley , cross

'

the P heasant Plainswhere there was a number of whitesettlers an d of course plunder as theywent an d jo in the File Hill Indiansan d then capture Fort Qu

’Appel le‘

andremain

_there un til they were joinedby the Moose Mountain Indian s fromthe south , wh o would come in by wayof Indian Head . After that

,whatever

c ircumstances might develop or réquire , such was the program that theyhad been promulgating day an d night

‘

for a week while I was gorging them'

on f low , bacon , an d tea , and pluggingt he old m en to put greater vim an d

exertion in their persuasions t o’

h oldthem all on) the R eserve .

‘ I couldsee that the old m en were weakeningas the R ebellion was progressing .

There had been Du ck Lake,Fish

C'

reek , C u t Knife C reek, _

an d n ow they“were at Batoch e . This was my mostcritical period , an d I had to d o something desperate or they were gone , so“I forced my way into their c ouncilabout midnight , an d harangued themfor over t wo hours addressing theyoung b raves“I said , You have broken faith

'

w i t h

your'

dead chief—You are n ot d oingwhat he tought you

—you are like

drunken m en ; _

_

your words are not

good ; your plans are bad ;'

I have l ived among you as a brother ; I am forc

ed t o speak m y -mind . I know y ou allan d you all know me . S tep your madness, this ; fight has

“

nothing to do

.far as w hite -

peop l-e w ere concerned , .with you . It is n ot an Indian quarrel .

yet I had what I considered manygood friends among the Indians thatI had grown up with an d th at I h adknown for the las t 9

,years I did n ot

feel or realize that I was in an y personal danger an d had -n o

~ fear whatever fo-r my own safety du ring

“the

whole period~

of the disturbanc e . Iwas at my wits ends to know what t o

do next_to prevent them from leaving

the reserves an d going on t h e warpath . In spite of all I could do th ere

was a turbulent element among theyoung braves

'

w h o w ere a l l painted

an d tatooed holding n ightly council s'

an d ready to g o,

'

w h ile t h e ol d men’

s

councils in a separate lodge were mak

in g use of all their restraining in f lu J

truth .

You have nothing to’

gain . Are y ou

n ot well off -here ? Am I n ot givingyou plenty to

‘

eat ,‘

p lent y of sugaran d tea to

,

drink , an d p lenty of to

bacco to sm oke ? I s . it becau se y ou

are a l l so—well off that you want to

do all this evil th at you are planningand propo sing ? D o you think that itwill help you ? This is n ot your affair .

You have n ot h in g to do with it . Youhave

'

been listening to lies and l iars .

an d you have excited yourselve s so

much that you think all these liarsare telling the truth . Th ey are liarseveryone and you have -n ot heard am r

Listen !‘

_has on e of you

ever known me-

to t ell you a lie ? Th egovernment is _ strong, the company

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY 29

i s strong, are you as strong as theyare ? They are - feeding you and yourwives and little children , i s that thereason you want to fight, an d killthem , because they are good to you

and are taking -Scare of you? If you

leave here on the errand you havebeen planning

, you will have t o leaveyour wives and children here—youw ill all '

b e shot, killed , or hanged , and

you will never come b ack to see yourch ildren again . You r wives and children w il l s tarve to death here , and youwill' be their m u rderers . Listen! thesun i s just risin g , s top her-e on theReserve w here you are . I have spokenan d told you the truth . It i s up to youn ow , o ld men, young m en , an d wom

en, wh o h ave heard m y words to“

make your d eci sion before it is too

late .

lNO on e spoke . Th ey s aid t h ey wouldsend me a messag e to the store b efore noon .

I‘

was,very much exhausted and had

played my last,

card , had done all Icould whatever would be the result . Is lep t

‘

for'

a couple,of hours , With all

my clothes on as l had done for" sev

eral weeks .

Ab out 10 o’

clock a .

“m . , three or

four of the head men came to thestore an d made all kinds of demandson me for grub . They were going t o

m ake a b ig feast and going to_

have a

b ig talk . I saw the situation at once .

I had hit them - some place , an d n ow

could divert their attention from theeverlasting c ouncilw ere in constant ses sion for days an d

days . I knew they were only tryingme ; they did n ot expect my answerat an d then they would have hadsom ething to grumble at . I said

,

“Yessure , I w ill g ive you all the grub youwant for a

-b ig feast, an d call all t h eIndians

‘

to eat an d we will all have’

a good time .

” I had them f aded,an d

shot th e grub ou t to them telling th emif that was no t enough , I would givethem some more . I t

_

was only a matter of some extra

“«flour, bacon and

'

'

tea . T h e stuff was handed over to thewomen w h o began to prepare it forthe feast, an d word was sent to everyon e to come and eat and :b rin g

’

t h eir

own cu p with them . The feast lastedall that ni ght and the following day , ‘

and they dis played"

some wonderfulappetites during that

_time!

them where the hair”

w as short and I

'meetings that

a n d quite tractable

I had "

knew i t . Dear reader if ever you haveanything to do with wild unru ly In

dians , kindness , firmness,truthful

ness , n ot too much familiarity, lots ofgrub , tea and tobac co will overcomenearly an y difficulty, and leave you

master of the situation ; I proved it tomy own satisfaction before this oc

casion , and many times afterwards .

Properly applied at the right time ,I have n ever known it to be a failure ,an d it certainly had its charm at thecritical 'period of which I write andsaved the value of many feasts an d

the lives of m an y I ci t izen s of t h e?Do

minion of C anada in 1 88 5 .

The transportation of troops an d

war supplies was the salvation of allthe settlers in the country at thattime ; everyone ,

w’

h o could raise ateam of horse s or a y oke o f oxen wereon the job a t ten dollars per daywhich paid better than any crop theycould raise ; the climatic conditionsimproved , an d the country started anew era an d a prosperous career . Afew days after the feast, news arrived that Batoch e was taken , the rebelsdefeated , an d R iel taken pri soner andthat the war w as over . It w as onlythen that I realized t h e imminentdanger that I had successfully passedthrough , an d _the bottom was complete

ly knocked ou t of every IIn d ian on theR eserv e and I cou ld lead them w i tha s ilk thread after that ;

“I also did n ot

fail“

to ru b it in g ood and p lenty to

many of It h e-

kn ow eal l s an d h ot headsw h o were so brave a short time b efore ; they were completely subdued

ever after ;-n o

m ore trouble with an y of them duringmy time among them .

‘

R iel was captured by Thomas Hourie near BatOch e ; he was brought t oR egina and handed over to t h e . N . W .

M . Police 'b y C apt . George Young of

. the Winnipeg Field B atteries , an d

confined to jail M ay 23rd , 1 885 . Hewas sentenced to b e . hanged for treason at .R egina on S ept . 1 8, 1 885 . Thecase was appealed to the court of ap

peal in Manitoba , and also to thePrivy C ounc il but the judgment wasaffirmed Ib y b oth court s , and as I havealready s tated he was hanged at R egin

‘

a on Novem ber l 6th , 1 885 ,_

at 8 o’

clock a . m . , an d his body buried atS t .

_

Boniface in the French c emeteryac ros s - "the R ed R iver from Winnipeg .

There i s very little more to be said

30 THUNDER B AY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

by only that I received through able an d“successful way that I had

'the com pany the thanks of the_Lieut . handled the Indian s under my ch arge ,

governor , accompanied by an off icial and kept them on their reserves .Cheek’ Which ”3 01“d me from m ak‘

Ana,t hus th e R iel R ebellion of 1 885

ing any future claim against the C anadian government for services rend fl

a

gifzd

lén to h ISt°W° N M ° W . J . MC

ered . I also received the thanks of

the Hudson’s Bay C o. for the very Fort William , April 3oth ,1 920.

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THUNDE R BAY HISTORI C AL SOC IETY

between“

two an d three thousand

guests and ol d timers, an d received

most num erous o vations during'his

most interesting s peech . The Lieu- I

tenant-Governor, Premier of the P rovince , Mayor of

’

t he city, and all prominent officials were his right andleft . hand

‘

supporters , nearly all ol d

timers . After dinner and th e speeches,the R ed R iver j ig and many other Oldtime dances we

‘

re indulged in , somev erg in g on 100 years of age p articipating in the dances of the early

settlers'

. During all the celebrations ,everything was conducted .with th e

greatest"

informal ity an d true friendship, ,

many old tim ers h av in g come along _way, to meet their friends andthe Gov ernor, many o f

'

t hem realizingthat they . Were meeting and p artingfor the last tim e . The Governor andhis f amily left at midnight on the 4thinst . to catch their train for E dmon

ton , to cont inue the celebrationsth rough to Victoria, B . C .

N . M . w . J . McK ENZ IE .

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY 3 3

Th u n der Bay H istorical Society

New s paper C lippin gs

Morning Herald , June 3 , 1 91 3 , E arlydays , by D . M cK el lar.

M orning Herald , May 1 909 , C aptain Harry Z ealand , commander of

first b ig steamer ever to enter Kamin is t iqu ia tells of his trip in

Morning Herald May C itywill soon be off wat er

.

wago .n (Illustrated with picture of old p umphouse on Brodie street .

Times-Journal , Oct S ir

George Foster , an d the unveiling of

the monument .

Hud son Bay C om pany .

Mem oran da

(“Donated by Mr . C has . B ell )

Spaniard s account current . 1 83 1 .

Letter to Fort Wi l l iam ,

'

fr?om W.

'

N .

Macleod , Devils C ove , 1 846.

Letter to Fort Wi lliam , from W . N .

Macleod, Poder To ,nnerre 1 846.

Le t ter to Fort Will iam , from W. N .

Macleod , S t . Ignac ,e 1 846.

Macleod , Pine R— iver, 1 846.

. .Let ter t o Fort W illiam, from W. N .

Macleod , .Nipigon,‘

1 847 .

Letter to Fort W ill iam , from Wm .

S impson , Sault S te. Marie , 1 847 .

Let t ers _ and

Let ter t o Fort William , unsignedR oche .de BOu t , July 1 846.

Letter_

t o Fort William , un signedPoint

"Porph ry ,

'

1 841 .

Letter to'

Fort William , unsigned ,Michipicoton , on Pos t

"

Office business ,

Let ter to Fort William , f rom Jn o.

Swanston , M ichipicoton ,’

45 .

Letter to Fort William , f rom J n o .

Swan ston‘

, Michipicoton , 1 844 .

Letter t o Fort Will iam , f rom F .

Shepperd , S t ; Ignace , 1 846.

Letter to Fort W illiam , from F .

Shepperd, S t . Ig nace , 1 846.

Let ter t o Fort W illiam , f rom F .

Shepperd , Pt . Porph ry , 1 846.

Letter t o Fort William, from F .

Shepperd , Roche du Bout,'1 846.

Letters to Fort William from T .

C h ilds , Prince’

s Bay, Nov . 7 ,’

46, Dec .

1 7 ,’46, Jan

.

3 Jan . 30, Jan . 8 , Jan .

3 1 , Feb . 1 3 , March 1 9 , April

Letter to Fort William from A . P .

E dwards , P'

t . Gou rgan , 1 847 .

Letter to Fort W illiam ,from Donald

Macl n tesh , 1 836.

S tatement of servants accounts atFont Wi ll iam

,1 83 4 .

Distribution list of sales outfit, 36Fort William .

List of a rticle s required from Fort

gél

giam Depot for M oose Factory,

Packin g account of sundry orders

gg?gMichipicoton for Fort

’

W illiam,

iO-fficial comm unication to C . F.Keith , 1 83 1 .

Invoice of sundries supplied M ichipic

‘

oton‘

, 1 828 .

Invoice of articles in use at FortWilliam

,1 83 6.

Manu script s of Art ic les in An n ua ls .

Poem , History of Thunder Bay,

Ib yFergus B .lackR ecollections ,King .

President’

s address , 1 909, Mr. P .

M cK el lar.

President’

s address,

P . M cK el lar .

Fort William Ice Jamb, an d Port

Arth tir ice shove , by Mr. Peter Mc

1 878- 1 909, _

b y John

1 91 2—1 3 , Mr .

Kellar

In early pioneer days, 1 864 ,

'

JohnMcLaurI n

Indian mission, 165 911 727 ,

“by Miss

Robins .

Maps

Halifax to Winnipeg, 1 877 .

Lake of the Woods 1 897North Shore Lake Superior, Nipigondistrict .

M isce llaneous Pub licat ionsFirst m ortgage bond , Prin ce Arth

ur’

s Landing and K am in ist iqu ia railway company.

North West Territory, report on t h eAss in ab oin e and Saskatchewan exp lorin g expedition by H . Y . Bird, 1 85 9 .

(Donat ed by Mr . A . L . Russell . )C atalogue of mineral specimens do

h ated t o city by M cK el lar brothersNov .

Prince Arthur ’s Landin g, 1 883 . (Dohated b y Miss B . Dobie . )

34 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

Question of the terminus of thebranch

(of the Pac ific -R . .R . on north

Shore of Lake Superior, Showing theadvantage of Thunder Bay, over Nipigon Bay, or any other point,

‘

1 847 .

(Donated by Mr. P . M cK el lar . )P h ot og fi

’

aph s an d Pri n t sC aptain Roland , explorer an d m in

in g engineer, (Photographs dona tedby Miss B . Dobi e . )Lord and Lad y B ufferin’

s visit toPrince Arthur

’

s Landing , and archerected in their honorAlfred Tennyson , nephew of poet,

1 873 .

S t ereoscopic v iews taken in the7o

’

s .

The C hicora , of early d ays .

Peace temple , Thunder Bay .

S cene a t the Fort, Mc In tyre f amily.

Al fred Tennyson a n d friends.

IC .

’

P . .R . Docks , Fort William .

Fort W illiam .

Devils tooth p ick .

A . Tennyson and friend1A . Tennys on an d g roup of friends .

Fort William,K am in ist iqu ia river ,

(early print ) .

I Large“picture of unveiling of m on

u-ment .Roman C athol ic mission, K am in iSt iquia river, (Iol d print . )Prints donated by Mrs . J ames M c

Allister, S ept .

Prince Arthur and S ilver Islet Royal M ail .M cK el lar

’

s harbor .

Mackay’

s harbor .

Nipigon river.Port Arthur e levator .Jack Fish Bay .

Peninsular harbor .

Port Arthur from .West .

Papers and Proceed ing s .

Brant C ounty Historical society,1 908 -1 91 1 .

Lon -don and Middlesex historicalsociety, 1 908—O9Lu n-dy

’

s Lane historical society:Battle of Q-

u een ston h eights, b y C .

C ruikshank .

Battle of L-undy ’s Lane , b y C .

C ruikshank .

Butler’

s Rangers .

C anad a in m em orian , 1 812—1 81 4 .

C entenary study, Upper C anada, b yE . J . Fessenden .

Drummond’

s winter campaign , 1 81 3 ,by C . C ruikshank .

Waterloo historical society, 1 91 31 916.

Wentworth historical soc iety, 1 91 9 .

Women’

s C anadian Historical society of Ottawa, R eports , 1 91 5 -1 6; 16

1 7 1-8-1 9 .

Women’

s C anadian historical society of _Toronto, R eport 1 903-04 .

Historic Landmarks association , R eport 1 916, 1 91 7 , 1 91 8 .

Minnesota historical Bulletin , R eports . Volumes 1 and 2 complete , v ol .3 . P amphlets 1 -4 .

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Th e Thu n der Bay H istorical

Society

n n u a

Papers of 1921

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PRE SIDENT or THE HISTORIC AL SOC IETY

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY

An n ual Address,1921

BY TH E PRE S IDENT

Ladie s an d f Gen t lem en an d FellowMembers :

I am pleased that we a re n ow freefrom the direc t ravages

'

oi the GreatfWorld War

,yet , _ many are suff ering

f rom the destruction of life an d,prop

ert y that took place during _the five

to s ix years of the dreadful carnage .

iThe L eague of

'

Nations h a s beenformed an d

“seems t o be doing good

work , notwith standing the disappointment of many that the Am ericans didn ot come into the arrangemen t . Letus hope that t h e

“Great C ourt will

brin g b less ings to the world that willconspicuously advance the happines san d prosperity of mankind .

I note by the Annual R eport of 1 92 1Of th e Historic Landmarks Association ,

-that the Advisory Board on Historic S ites an d Monuments is making

good progress . Five hundred an d fortys even S ites to date have been: broughtto . the attention of the S ociety , of

which 46 are to receive immediate at

tention . These relat e ~ ch ief 1y to war ,battlefields an d personal , achievements , et c . Outside of these important monuments , there are others , f orinstance , the natural sites of ThunderBay must be preserved , as I believethey will occupy a conspicuous placein th e Dominion

’

s Monumental Galaxy . The Kakabeka an d Pigeon R iv er

,

Falls,The S leeping Gian-t , S ea Lion

an d the M cK el lar Pot -Holes are wellknown .

There are tw o roC ky sites . oi uniqueconstruction worthy

'

of a place- theThunder Bay S tone Giant an d MOu n t

Garnet near Dog Lake . The latter idiscovered in the later part of December 1 868 . The snow was deep an d theweather very C old , otherwise

,

I,

wouldhave t aken measurement s of

.

theheight an d . s ize an d samples of the .

rock . I expecte d to g o back’

an d m akea detailed statement .

Th e pillar formation is granitic , ex

ceed in g ly hard an d massive , free fromfissures an d impregnated w ith fi n e P . MCKE LLAR .

U1

d iod ecah ed ral g arn ets ,probably h u n

dreds to the cubic inch . I had onlya light prospe ctors

’ pick an d I failed'

to break ou t a sample of the solidrock . I broke a slice of t h e oxidizedcrust showing numerous fi n e garnets .

“

I b e'

l iev e that polished blocks of thisrock would be very beautiful an d v alufable on account of the red brilliancyof the garnets .

The I

p il lar appeared_round an d

smooth as though ground by machinery . It is two to three feet - in

,d iam l

eter ; larger, at the bottom where it,

forms part of the sol id rock . I marke-d it eighty feet high but , I think , itin cluded the rocky ridg e on which itstood .

Mount Garnet is about twenty-fi v emiles back, near the source of t h e

C urrent R iver .

On e thing , it was conspicuous amongthe trees at a d i stance of two to

three hundred yards west of ou r path ,

when I saw,it ; My friend an d I w ere

surprised until we examined it , an d

still more so after we left . I h ave theoriginal tract survey I made an d can

place it so that a geologis t can fi n d itin a short tim-e by the formation , if Ido n ot g o myself . I w i l l propos e to

the Society that we w ill n ot rest untilw e

‘d iscov er Mount Gar-n et an d have

it placed on record .

s Th e Thunder_

B ay rock giant is aston e freak . It stands in full relief on

a flat trap rock about 1 2 feet high .

The resem blance of the outlines of the

b ody an d head of a hum an being i s re

markable . It can easi ly be discoveredas it lies

‘

w ithin a couple of miles of

the C . P . R .,4 t o 5 m les east of Ou r

rent R v er.

I think at the next meeting of ou r

S ociety , we should consid er what to

do with the future caretaking of th e

Fur Trading Tablet .

W ishing y ou a happy an d prosper

ou s coming year .

MISS M. J. L. BLAC KSEC RETARY-TREASURER

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8 THUNDE R IDAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

BY M ISS M . J . L BLAC K

(Printed by permiss ion of theMusson Book C ompany )

Jack an d his cousin E ddie , w h o_

w erevisiting h im , had been sight seeing allday, and in the evening they were re

counting their adventures t o an y Ofthe family who would listen . Theyhad

.

visited t h e elevators,docks , an d th ough E ddie had .looked

with longing eyes toward the mountain , they had remained in town

”ex

plorin g the factories instead for Jack

was most anxious that h 1s cousinshould take away a good impres sion of

th e busy, but n ew city of Fort W'

il

l iam . Jack was_ very proud of its

newness , and of the fact that all thisbee-h iv e

’

Xof industry had grown ,u p

since_his father an d I m oth er had first

come to town as young married peo

, ple . His mother had o ften told himof those early times when the bushhad come right into where the GrainE xchange n ow Stands , an d when thevi llage

'

consisted of only a fewhouses scattered along Victoria aven u e , and Brodie an d May S treets , withperhaps

'

a half a dozen more along theriver front, an d b ein g an u n im ag in a

tive little b oy, it had never occurred‘

to’

h im t o‘

ask what had. brought thes efew

'

here ,‘

or what was here in thedays IOn g

'

before . On the other hand ,E ddie

, w h o had lived in the older partof

' “Ontario,

an d w h o had heard of

things hap pening when his father an d

grandfather were small boys , didwonder if there had ever been a timewhen nobody at all had ever livedhere , and

'

when n othing at all hadever happened , an d in

‘

response t o the'

questioning smile of his uncle John , he

pu t h is query ,“Surely, Uncle ,

”h e

said,There were lots of things hap

pening long before 1 882 , when you

came here ? Won’

t y ou tell us _a story ,

a really truly s tory of old , ol d times ?”

Practical Jack was sure that therecould be nothing to tell , but w as eagerfor a story 'also, an d so seconded t h erequest . Mr . Macdonald s ighed , butsaid that he supposed h e

‘

wou l d have

an d the

t o so he Shook ou t his pipe , an d set4

t led back in“his chair an d began :

I On ce upon‘

a time , long , long ag o ,

there'

really were n o human b eingshere at all

,b u t

,

ev en so,th ere cer

t ain ly w as lots of life , for the beaversw ere always working busily on therivers an d shallow lakes, an d the

m oose an d deer would push their waythrough the forests , going to thewaters to drink , or standing withhead u p

-raise'

d they would View fromthe top of Mount Mackay (only it wasn ot called that then ) the beautifulcountry of which they were m onarch

“

;

,

an d the bears would com é ou t of th eirholes ,

'

b ringing their little fat rolypoly cubs and g o fishing , or I search

'

in g for honey , Or berry picking whilenumberles s other littl e animals an d

birds an d insects kept up a busy huntfor food as they hummed an d sangan d played together . The country was

so beautiful with its wealth of treesan d flow ers an d expanse of waterswith all the life that they containedthat on e can hardly b el iev e

'

t h at therecould be anything there to harm or

to destroy , but even then the badexisted as well as the good , an d th e

wolves an d foxes , eagle s and wild catswere often to be seen ,

n ot only killin g in order to l ive , b u t of ten destroyin g much more than they ever con

sumed . An d so, even though Jack mayn ot think so,

there were adventuresoccurring every minute of the day an dn ight

, for this was Mother Nature’

s

g reat preserv e for many varieties of

h er animal children . On e day , though ,

something stranger'

than had ever

b een~

known happened .

“Mr . Moose

was standing at the river’

s mouth an d

h e saw coming towards him , some

t h ing that frightened him very much ,

an d that made him . g o tearing into

t h e bush . How-ever , being a gentlem an w h o is noted for his curiosity, hereturned an d Viewed his enemy oncemore . To his mind , it was only aterrible strange animal , but we knowth at it

,was the first m an w h o ever saw

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY“

the K am in is t iqu ia river , or MountMackay

,or even Thunder B ay . E d

die ’s ey es were dancing at the picture ,an d he broke in with Oh , Uncle ,was that ou r firs t Indian ?” an d Jacksaid ,

“Of course it was , but Mr . M ac

donald responded ,

“Don

’

t be so sureof that Jack! I He may have been an

Indian, or he m ay have been on e . of

the race from whom ou r In dians aredescended , or again he may havelived on the American continent longage

’

s before even them. Personally, Iam . . in cl in ed to think h e was on e

'

of

these latter very ancient peoples , forthe North American Indian . we knowis n ot a

_

very practical“person , while

these peoples . Were original an d ao

tive,and . seem to h ave looked much

further than Simply f ood an d shelter,for th ey searched ou t Nature

’

s giftsan d used them f or their ow n benefit .This much we know for certainty , an dwe also know that they lived on thesouth shore of Lake Superior, an d

that some’

of them came over to IsleRoyale , which is the name of - th at bigisland that y ou see lying ou t there on

th e horizon .

_

Wh y am I so sure ? Because in both these places are to befound

'

remains of,old copper mines ,

which were worked by them . Theyapparently took great quantities of n a

[ tive copper ou t of the mines , andscores of shafts are st il l t o be seen ,

showing where t his‘

b u sy peopl-e l ivedan d worked . One can see the remainsof their primitive blasting , for theyused to heat the rock an d then throwcold

“water on it , with the natural re

sult,that i t would break open an d ex

pose it h e mineral , an d on e also oci

cas ion al ly finds tools - of native cop

per which th ey'

sh aped‘

b y hammerin g . To prove that al l th is labor wasdone hundreds

,and perhaps

, thousandsof years ag o, on e

—h aS "

on ly to notice"

the huge trees . that have g rown an d'

died in these deserted Ip it s‘

. S ome day ,

when I can arrange it , you boys an d

I . will take a holiday on Is le Royale ;and t h ou g h

'

it may n ot be safe to g o

down into the old mines , many of’

which are from thi rty to fifty feetdeep , we can look at them and . per

haps find some remains of this in dustrions people wh o lived so long ag o,

an d on e of whom disturbed -ou r moose ,on that spring morning , in the firstage s of

_this part of the :world .

The years'

pas'

sed by, an d then

these peaceful people either simplymoved away, or were driven ou t byanother race , amd . at last ou r own

American Indian appeared on thescene , an d the K am in is t iqu ia riverbecame a great highway for theircanoe trips , as they would g o intothe back country, fol lovVin g up thegame , or else in fighting battles royalwith their neighboring tribes . To

them , ou r ol d mountain came in veryuseful , fOr when they would want a

gathering of‘

their own p articularclans they would build great

‘

fires on

the top of it , as a signal th at therewas danger . Theirs was a very s imple life , with simple needs an d s implebeliefs . Once in a While some of themore daring w ou ld

’

v en tu re down thelake shore , an d bring back strangeunbelievable tales of what they hads een . Once they reported having seenbeings that they , called “WhiteS pirits , but their description was so

vague , that t h e people at home’

couldn ot im ag in e of what t hey were talkin g

On e day , there was a great scurryin g in t h e

_cam p near th e mouth of

the river, an d a runner hurried off to

light the fire on the mountain top ,

an d the squaws an d the childrenpeeped timidly from behind trees andfrom the entrances of their bark andSkin wigwams , as five strangers drewu p

' their canoe, an d the leader start ed

wa lking towards them . To add to

their terror was t h e fact that thes trangers were white Skinned

, an d n ot

red like themselves ._

However, t h e

leader smiled an d held ou t some beadsan d other trinkets . an d presently wass eated among the braver ones an d was .

soon telling them in fairly good In

dian , that he was on e of that m y s terion s race of whom they had heard

,

an d tha t he had come as a friend .

Had it been worth his while, h e

'

m ight have added that his name wasDaniel Grey solon Du lh u t

, or Duluth,

an d that his master was Louis Four“

teened of France , an d th at it was theyear of ou r Lord

,1678 . However

,that

would not have meant very much to

them , an d i t may n ot t o you ,eith er

,

unless I tell you that C harles the S econ d of E ngland was I

reig n in g then .

Legend has it , that Duluth’s place of

landing was on the bank of the Kamin is t iqu ia river at the foot Of M oTav

ish stree t . He organized a trading

1 0 .THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

station at that point , a S ite that wasused o ff and on , by

‘

the F rench an d

E ngli sh for two hundred years . D u

luth soon moved on t o .the further

west , but f rom that time on , t h e'

In

dians were quite accustomed to seeing these White camein on them from over t h e

'

g reat lake ,which they called

“K itch ig am a , or“

B ig S ea-water . This lake had beennamed in 1665 , Lac Tracy

”by Father

Allouez , but"

by 167 1 , it was also

kn own as Superieur , an d shortlyafter

,this much more suitable , name

become the on e most generally used .

About 1688 J Iv u es d e"

Noyon ex

plOred the route to R ainy River, an d

h is report created -s uch a favorableimpress ion -oh

_the home authorities

that they authoriz ed the construction

of t h ree pos t s ,at Kaministikwia , at

R ainy R iver,an d the Lakes of t h e

Woods . The ord er ~ w as carried ou t

but slowly , for it_

was n ot till 1 7 1 7that the French government had their

fi rst fort built here . The next important name that we hear of in connection with Fort Kaministikwia is that

of La Veren drye , w h o made it hisheadquarters in 1 7 3 1 .

In those - days the on e thought . of .

all t h e explorers was -to fi n d a w ay to

the western sea , and t h e Shortes t way

was th e on e wanted . It is not surprising therefore that when the Pigeon

R iver route , via th e Grand Portage ,t o the Lake of the Woods , was dis

covered, it fina l ly became the favo

rite course , an d that the post at t h eK am in is t iqu ia was almost forgotten .

However , in the course of time , theBritish traders of Montreal organizeda fur trading company called theNorth West Fur C ompany, an d this

concern brought the greate st romance

of al l t o Fort Kaministikwia . At firstthey d id n ot

“use this route , , but chose

t h e western on e at P igeon river ,making t h eir post at the Grand Por

tage, b u t when the American rev olu

tion changed the buou n d ary line , this

was found to be on American territory , so about 1 800 the traders

changed their western route to the

on e that was used by the early F renchexplorers , namely that along the Kam

in is t ikw ia,Dog Lake , Dog R iver, and

on to the R ainy R iver . In so doingthe fur traders brought _ their prin

cipal northern post to the mouth of our

river,an d called it Fort William

,after

on e of‘

the members of t h eir company ,

W illiam M acGi l lv ray . The next fewyears were full of l ife an d activityat the Fort , for the company w as veryaggressive an d was prepared t o put upa keen fight in their eff ort t o Squeezeou t the Hudson Bay C ompany , whichwas supreme in , the more northerly

country ; As it was , they rode t rium

ph an t ly across t h e continent , forcingou t , _or absorbing the X . Y . C ompany ,

an d o ther . small con cerns an d evenproving a successful rival t o thePacific Fur C ompany of John JacobAs tor,

'

on t he Pacific coast . F or variou s - reasons the North West companyh ad succeeded in bringing into itsservice m en of great ability as leaders

an d explorers , and to add t o the - popu

larit y of the institution many of .theirtraders were French half-breeds

w hose natural gaiety an d understand

in g of the Indians was a great help t othe company . Th e

'com pan y built an

elaborate fort an d stores , shops , brickkilns ; an d a huge banqueting hall , an d

often within the stockade would begathered a population of hundreds ifn ot thousands , when at regular intervals the members of t h e companyfrom M ontreal would come up t o meet

an d talk over affairs_with their em

p loyees on active service . The ar

rival of the M on treal‘

m en looked likea special , pageant , w hen in decoratedcanoes

“an d with a retinue of servants

they WOI'

I ld land , carrying with them a

most abundant supply of all the goodthings necessary for feas t and celebration . Such occasions were celebratedwith all wild revelry an d feasting an d

stand ou t in history as on e of themost romantic examp les ,

of barbaricdisplay of wealth and jol l ifi cat ion fi Th e

only building that remains that saw

all these strange doings is the_

oldmagazine store house ,

- a small stonebuilding that is n ow a part of the C an

adian Pacific roundhouse , an d eventhough it was n ot very close to thegreat hall

,I am sure were you to li s

ten very carefully , even it could tell

you strang e tales of the Frasers andMackenzies , - and Mackays an d the

F rob ish ers of Alexander Hen ry andDaniel Harmon , an d many other n o

tables, wh o, ,

‘

putting their shrewdheads tog et h er

I -‘

n ot only succeeded in

opening up a vast country . but incidentally made great fame an d wealth

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1 2 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IETY

BY PETE R M cK E LLAR , F .G . S F .G S .A .

C hairman an d Fellow-Members :

. I t is a pleasure t o have the honorof addressing you on this occas ion . Ifeel diffident in undertaking t o presentt o the S ocie ty such a pretentious p a

per as “The Framework of the

Earth ,- I

,w h o have n ot h ad the ad

vant ages of t h e higher educationaltraining wh ich the thousands of pro

fess ion al m en have had , w h o have la

b ored in'

the same field as that fromwhich I have gathered the material in

this paper . I have regretted my lack

of university trainin g , but it maybe all for the b es t

hun l ess I , em

mistaken about it s value . Had I beenfavou red w ith the higher training itis n ot l ikely that I would have leftt he beaten track an d strayed into thewilderness where the unique prize s are

s tored .

-It i s my purpose t o try an d“explain

geological ~ problems which I have

come across in geological w orks , in

cludin g Ice Age , E ncyclopedias Brit'

an n ica'

an d Americana . Th e latterthree show that there have been n o

sat isfactory explanations given of the

causes that produced those extraord in

ary phenomena , such a s the follow

ing :

1 st . Th e Folding of

S trata .

2n d .The Formation of the Oceans .

3rd . Th e S teep Basins of the Ocean

4th .The .C ol lapses of t h e C rust of the

E arth .

5 th . The Mountain Ranges.

6th . The Great Plateaus .

7 th . The Glacier Phenomenon .

8th . The Shifting of the Poles .

People may say these problems will

b e of n o real value , as conditions will

g o on the same . At on e time the peo

ple believed that th e earth stood stilland the su n ,

moon an d stars wentaroun d it , an d human beings were sat

isfi ed with the conditions . Wh o , t o

day; would say th at th'

e discovery of

th e real revolutions of the earth have

not been beneficial to t h e human race?

the Archean

I take it , that the more we discoverof the laws of the Alm ig h t y

‘

God t h e

b etter for human.

being s .

T h e“F old in g of t h ei

’

Ar

’

c h ean S t rat a

T h e F orm at ion of t h e Ocean s

The larger synclinal basins w ouldnaturally sink deeper an d coales ce ,

I believe it'

.is

'

con ced ed by g eolo

gi sts generally that,the E arth w as

at on e time a heated fluid m as s likethe Su n . In t h at v

ey en t , t h e ,

aqueouselements should naturally, continue . t o

float.above the heated sphere until

th e t emperature would fall below t h e

360 degrees , t h e critical point (givenby Arrhenius )

'

wh ene' water

!

must passinto steam . Then the water would

pour down in immense quantities a n dfill in the innumerable syn cl ical h ol

lows which ,naturally ,

would be presen t as represented b y the amp le illu st rat ion s of Professor Dana .

_ Theweight of the wat er would graduallysink the b as ins in the elastic lm agm a .

The internal gas an d s t’

eam‘w ou ld

cause an t icin al ridges t o burst Openat the top . Th e result would

,be a

separation of the basin w h ich wouldprobably n umber . a million

‘(baby

seas ) . an d be the genesis of s t h e

Oceans . The winds an d the wav eswould sweep along an d rap-id ly erode

t h e rock ridges an d fill the b as insw it h

sedimentary strata . The presence of

the sedimentary rocks in . the Arch ean s

has been recorded several geolo

gists . I know a locality wh ere the sesedimentaries

,within t h e Archean

rocks , occur .

"

It is about-"

on e and ahalf ,

miles north of the C anadi anPacific Railway an d a couple of miles

west of the Lit tle P ic R iver , on ,or

close to,Locat ion

,V49 north of Lake

Superior—a w ater worn boulder isenclosed . The synclinal b asm s would

g radually sink ,open at the bottom as

at the t op ,an d cause s teep

_

s id es ,

which in time would .l ikely'

result in

a folded Archean strata such as isusually found in Archean Areas .

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL

and force the lighter ones up to formland . The

'

former would increase in

size“an d decrease in numbers untilfinally there is practically only on e

great b asin—the ocean . B y such aprocess any irregularity of the ou t

lin es of e ither land,or water would

be ga natural consequence . The deepareas would fork

'

an d . again rej-o'in

an d inclose islands . In the earlystage the crust would . be comparat iv ely ,

th in . As the rocky crust would

g et thicker the Ocean basins wouldgrow

/

larger . and heavier, until thisprocess h ad reach ed a c ertain stageof growth , as it w ere ,

.Wh e'

n the con

t in en tal lands an d ocean areas w ereestablished .

The foregoing is only an ideal the

cry an d I would n ot think of bringin g i t before the S ociety ,

“w

’

ere i t n ot

t h at'

it appears reasonable ,’

an d will behelpful ' in explaining t h e greaterproblem , the Ocean Basins.

I propose , by a simple“process , to

show h ow the great Oceans with theirinlets an d Outlets ,

_rece iv ing and ejectin g inconceivab l e quantities of

mat erials , progress , _as follows :

T h e Terres t ria l Aqueous C ycle

Th e S u n , the dyn amic for'

ce whichconverts t h e surface Waters .Oh th e

earth into vapor t hat forms clouds ,that rise an d float over the high an d

low areas of th e glOb e ; d issl in g ,

erod idn g an d washing down solutionsand sediments into streams, riv ers andseas . All flow on con t inu aIIy withtheir, , _ great burdens to the oceans ,where t heir loads are d‘epos ited f. or

distribut ion . The aqueous _pontio-nswill again ascend in to clouds an d

continue their Icou rse'

in the aqueouscycle i h p erpetuity .

I have rough ly es t im ated ' th e amountof sedimentary materials that is beingcarried annually into the oceans , andit amounts -to more t han five trilliontons , as the following e stimates show .

I have selected the Missis sippiR iver for the base of calculation , an d

the reliable reports on the same , bythe fam ou s engineers Humphreys an dAbbot ,

‘

They show the suspended mat erial s from this great river t o be

trillion pounds and 91 trillionpounds coarser mat erials , total 45 2

billion ton s'

an n u al ly ,I - estimated the

areas of ' the world to b e twe lve times

SOC IE TY 1 3

T h e S ecu lar . C on t rac t ion of t h e Glob e

Difference 87 miles

Half drop of amountI fi n d

‘

Prof . Mallet estimates the re

duction in diameter of the globe sincemolten state to b e 1 89 mil es

Terres t rial T h eorem

DIFFE RE NTIATE D AR EA 8 .

“OF

GLOBE INTO THRE E PARTS—W . s .

R

greater whi ch would equal more thanfive tr111ion

,

’

tons annually . Theresurely is an outlet "with all this ma

’

terial flow ing in during the ages .

Aga in the steep walls of t h e greatocean bas ins seem proof pos itive thatthey were formed by the droppingdown of t h e Ocean bottom under theextra enormous . weight of the o ceanwater . An y other solution would ap

pear incredible.

Take for granted that the .crust of

the earth has passed from the moltenstate t o i ts present cool condition .

In the molten state the temperatureof the magma would probably beabout 1 5 00 d eg rees fiF ah ren h eit . In re

d u cin g t h e magma to a cool,s tate i t

would contract at.a rate of

to each degree.of . h eat

,as I have

worked it ou t from t h e '

w orks of E n

g in eers C . H . Haswell a n d Kent ; Itook the av erag e

'

co-e'

fficient oi -fi v e

minerals—s andstone ,'granite , slate ,

marble an d copper . They gave an

average coe fficient of for

change in temperature of each'

d eg ree

of heat .'

The temperature of magmanext crust estimated 1 5 00 degreesFahrenheit . Fifteen ' hundred by theabove co-efficient equal .0108 t h e

amount of shrinkage-b f t h e block or

area . The circumfe rence of the'. earth

is 2 5 000 miles , shrinkage miles ,circumference

“'

of contracted

sphere .

Diameter of original globe 79 5 5 milesDiam eter of sh runken glob e 7868

'miles

W —We~ak—The land areas? of theTemper-ate a n d Torrid Z ones , that are

continually exposed to t h e su n , w inds ,waves an d to the terrestrial erosions .

“S”

-S-trong—The Ocean areas thathave been underneath the cold waters

of the s eas since the formation: of the

ocean and include the land margins

14 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL S OC IE TY

Of the seas_that l ie between the

Oceans an d the first or adjoininge range of m ountains .“

R”—R igid—The . Pol

'

ar regions thathave been exposed to the universalcold since the formation of the earth .

W ith three capital letters, W ,

”

S,”“

R”— each letter represents the

character of on e of the three differe n t iated parts of the earth .

A Brace S trong . The Oceanareas .

"It is a brace in every directionfrom an y on e point to another pointacross an y

“S”Or Ocean area . The“

S”Brace is a marvel . With its ow n

we ight it creates the mighty forcethat elevates

'

the mountain ranges on

the earth . In reality only two of thecommon law s

‘of nat u re were engaged

—cooling an d gravitation .

Two C apital letters show the governing force of the brace .

,RW Brace on e en d rests on rigid

area , the other on weak area .

WW”Brace both ends , on weak

are as , acros s a sea .

RR both ends res t On rigid areas .

Values—Double letters values , Bracelength

_

i h'

units of miles each .

Only four units allowed for widthwith half values .

WW brace—E ach unit will eleVate the mountain range a t each

“en d

of“brace about feet .

Brace—E ach unit wil l elevatemountain at“W en d ab out feetwith Side units half values .

RR -Brace t ru ss,

_

to hold its placen ot elevat e mountains .

RVV brace is a truss with on e en d

broken .

‘

By carrying ou t these , principles

y ou may have two or three strongbraces b earing on the same point a sat the Andes . There -are threestrong braces bearing on the MiddleAndes .

,xOn e from Australia , on e from

S . Pacific an d On e from N . Atlantic .

Widt h of the Indian Ocean a llows anumber of B race lines to bear on theHimalayas . Th ese

'

prin cip les are ef

fect iv e with the C aspian , M ed iter

ran ean an d other seas , as well as

with th e great oceans .

Any one wh o will doubt the prac¥

t ical correctness of these hypotheses ,l et him con sider that this i s the only

t heory in prin t to show why on e

mountain range differs from an otherin elevation or size .

Mou n tain'

Ran ges

The material.

in \ the mount ains isinh erent in the place as shown bythe foss iliz ed strata inclosed , so that

Th e Co l lapse of t h e C rus t of t h e Glob e

It is shown that there were t wo

general C ollapses of the crus t of theearth , the on e f ollowing the carboniferous epoch , the other, (the greater ) after the Tertiary E poch ,

whennearly all the great mountains wereelevated an d also th e Great G lacialPhenomenon appeared . It has beenabundantly proven

_

b y . g eolog is t s thatsuch collapses d o occur .

'

Notw it h

standing t hat some eminent geologistsand Iph y s ic is t s claim that the globe'

must be solid to withstand the strainof

.

t h e tides , etc . , acco‘

rding to my the.

ory there could be n o mountain'

chainsif solid . It seems to -me t hat after acollapse an d readjustment

.of the

crust , that the crust and magma willbe combined without an interveningspace , the latter intensely pressed . Butwith the cooling of the glob e the pressu re

__ in the magma would gradually

decrease and in time the elastic m agma would be ih condition t o receiveano ther load an d readjustment . A col

lapse would n ot take place un less thetruss of the earth

’

s dome w as strongenough t o sustain the weight of thecrust for a time , until

- the Ocean bedbecame overloaded and drops deeperinto the magma t o reach equ il b rium .

The drop may b e two or three milesor more in depth , in any event , itwould leave the basin-wall vertical asfar as i t went . This great ocean areablock of square miles of

bottom by 1 5 to 20 miles thick , mightbe expected to overcome even the .

terrestrial'

dome .

The C rust'

in general must havebeen strong enough t o retain

'

it s posi ~

tion for a t ime during the transpor

tat ion of materials f rom land to seauntil the latter became overburdened .

It is qu ite evident that the ocean

area must have been s tronger thanthe land areas when after a collapsewe find the latter crushed and rearedinto

“immense

,

mountain ranges , allalong the margins of the oceans .

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THUNDE R BAY HISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY 1 7

The canse for elevating the Mountain Ranges 9 was the excess ives trength an d weight of the Oceanareas over that of the opposed land .

areas . C ombin ed with t h e generalcool in g of the earth with gradually decreasing size , . it requi red an oc

cas ion al readjustment ._

In the lattercase the strong an d the weak areaswould have to collide , with the resultth at the weak areas ,

would have to b e

Oceans

N . Pacific wideN . . Pacifi c long ,

S . W . Pacific,long

N . Atlantic wideAtlantic longIndian longIndian wide

These remarkable coin ciden ces willgo“far to prove the. general theory.

crushed an d folded alon g . the contactl ine , by the gravitational forceof thestrong area

-I bel ieve I am justified in statingthat search for the solution of

I

the elevation of !d ifficult . problem s

t h e mountains an d the Glacial Period ,was chiefly made through th e agencies of the atmosphere an d h eat w ithn o success

The most exten s ive an d

mountains an d . plateaus on the earthare at th e weak en d of the IndianOcean Truss, cov erin g ov er a

_millionsquare m -ileS

'

of area reaching elevations of t hree t o five miles. A '

ch'

art

of'

t h e'

m oun tain ranges Of the earth“

,made alon g these lines would d ispel

”

all doubts o f the true principles of th e

hypothe ses .

T h e General Pl an E v o lved in E lev at in gt h e Mou n t ain

’

C h a in s

1 s t . The . differen t iation of the crustof the earth into three parts : Weak,S trong ,

I and R igid .

. 2 Iid . The contraction of the earthb y secular cool ing .

3rd . Th e col lapse an d change of theglobe to a reduced sphere , by reasonof expulsion of inte rnal heat , an d

overloading the ocean areas .

4t h . Th e collis ion of th e differentia ted areas an d acquiring their re

spect iv e positions in th e reduced

highest

m ental test .

that p oint .

When the tw o differentiated parts'

of t h e . globe occupy a certa in areaan d by reason of a requ ired change inthe area size , on account of the

. globe being reduced to a sm aller d iam s ter by cooling , the stronger a l eaWil l 1 e tain it s size , while the weakerw il l be crush ed t o the amount of thereduction made .

’

The strength of the

Bra'

ce prevents it from breaking in

the co_

llision while its weight a‘

C C Om

p l ish es‘ the rest .

S h rin kag e

-I_wish to p oint ou t m y conclusions

about the shrinkage . I fi n d the shrink.age . of the circum ference of the globet o be about 270 miles , say on e percen t ,

~

or-

on e foot to on e hundred feet ;scarcely noticeable without an in s tru

To secure the extraor

d in ary force necessary t o elevate them ountain ranges it was only n ecessary t o comp ly with the natural laws .

'

B y confining the on e-third (ninetym i les ) : sh rink-age to on e .spot , as at theHimalayan

,Mountain s , there would be

n in ety'

m i les s lackage to work upon ,

ih '

crushing an d folding t h e crust at. Th e B race length would

be over eight thousand mil-es long by‘

four thousand miles wide an d would. b e rig id when the collapse occurred .

On account o-t'

the preponderance inweight an d strength of the “S” areaover the “W” area , the latter would

‘

sphere , wi th the result , of leav in g a

crushed lin e (Mountain Range ) alongthe jun ction of the differentiatedareas . The amoun t of crushed an d

folded mountain s along the variouslines of the C ircumference of the earthshould practically agree . To supplythos e conditions we fi n d rockyrange s promiscuously scattered in

land . Volcan ic Mountains are n ot ihC luded in these hypothes es .

Brace S trength Mountains E levation

8000— double R ocky— 10000 Al aska

8000 —double Andes4000“ 7000 A ppalachian1 2000 Pole to Pole Glacier

8000— double Himalayas4000; 5 000 B ruce

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THUNDE R BAY HISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY

ican side , -whi,l e t h e. balance of the

tw o-thirds of the Temperate Z onearound th e earth was free from theglacier ice .

‘

F or a time , when I discovered tha t the Pacific area w as n ot

affected , I was much d isappointed . Itappeared . to upset m y _

theory.After

looking into the,matter an d finding

“

that 1 5 00; miles ~

of the north en d of

the Pacific at Alaska was weak . I‘

. was

satisfied .

T h e ,Gl'

ac ia l Period

In regard to the lOn g time occupiedin the decl ining age Of the Glacial P eriod ,

I believe a scientific examinationof: the M cK ellar Pot Holes would behelpful . They occur about mile snorth of the Middleton S tation ,

“C . P .

R . west of Little P ic R iver, Lake S uperior .

They w ere d iscovered by the lat eDonald M cK el lar in

|

1 87 5 an d‘

examinea and rep orted upon in .

'

1 876'

(b ymyself ) in (Bull . Geol . SOC . Am . , Vol .

There are about fifty Pot -Holesexposed from two to thirty feet in ,

di

am eter. The Pot -Hole Mountain is

n early tw o hundred feet high withthe Pot Holes here an d there fr

'

om P ot

Hole Lake , at the bottom up to with

in twenty feet of the summitThe holes are generally Smooth an d

round an d partly fil led with boulders

an d gravel . I went down in the twinholes , ten to fifteen feet deep . E achm easured , about six feet in diameter .

The country back with deep valleysShow that it required centuries to ac

com plish the work.

'

[PLATE THRE E!

A —diagram showing a'

s l ice of'

theNorth end Of the earth , about the 5 0

°

Lat . Mid Temperature Z one .

Also Showing the extent Of the glacial area on each S ide of the Atlantic

Ocean .

The White indicates the Oceans

an d t h e B lack t h e ice and glaciers ._

J . W . Dawson , afterreviewing the condition Of the GlacialPeri od , stated as follows :

“The

'

p ic

tures which these ch anges present to

the investigator is on e of the mostextraordinary in all geological his

tory .

Th e , S h if t in g of t h e POlesAllowing that my theory is correct

in the differentiation of the rig id an d

weak areas th eA t lan t ic B race is about

PE TE R MCKE LLAR .

Author’s Note The figure s an d

amounts given in the ab ove article toelucidate the hypothesis are only es

t im at es .

_miles wide an d stretches frompol e to pole , a d is tan ce 'of miles

,

h alf t h e . circum feren ce Of the ' globe .

The amount of’

shrinkage would beover -1 3 5

, miles or ha lf Of that of thearea of the whole circumference of

t h e earth . After the collapse the cir

cum feren ce of the new sphere wouldbe reduced to m iles , whichwould shove the pole area 1 3 5

miles further westward whichwould double the area to be accountedfor on the West side or 27 1 mileswould be required to be crushed andfolded to make room to accommod atethe reduced surf ace . Th e rigid areasOf t h e Pacific side are immense ,miles wide , but the mile s of weakareas at Alaska greatly reduced itseffect . This area of Alaska has beencrushed and folded to take -

u p theslack -Of 27 1 miles mentioned . Take ,for example , on S iberian side Of B eh

ring S traits the Great S tanovoi , an d

the K am t ch at ka R anges,an d on the

American side the Rocky Mountainswith the Alaska Range Take als oin the middle between the feetplateau an d the many great m ountains to feet elevation ,

as the S t . E lias , M acK in ley , Logan ,

Fairweather a n d many others . Againthe sag in the Atlantic would be sureto displace the Pole .

The principles as presented seemto be true an d I will leave it to othersmore cap

-able than”

I t o work it ou t . Iw ish to clos e this paper with a fewremarks .

If the paper contains matters thatwill

'

b e valuable in directing thoughtsto make valuable discoveries I will ' befully repaid for my trouble .

I have g athered information fromnumberless written sources . If Ihave infringed upon the rights of an y

on e I sincerely apologize for it .In w ri t t in g this paper I h ave re

ceiv ed help an d encouragement frommany friends

,all Of which I appreci

ate . I must refer specially t o the LateDr . R obert Bell , -Of Ottawa for

his genuine kindness t o me in Geolog

ical mat ters in early days .

22 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL S OC IE TY,

Importan t Geological Prob lem sBY F . A . FOU C H ET, M . D 1882

Mou n t a in Bu i ld er

Torn from the d ep ths of the,

crustof the earth ,

and forcibly upheavedabove the clouds b y a formidable power, the lofty moun t

-ai n s ystems of the

globe , such as'

the Alps "an d the C Or

d ill eras , astonish us by, th eir mass an dtheir elevation .

But there are oth ers, which , thoughless g igan t ic ,

_

h av e qu ite as marvellousan origin , although of a different kind ;these are the mounta in s of shells .

‘The exuberance of l ife in the ancient

oceans surpassed everything that wecan

'

imagine .

’

Th e geological chalk f ormationswhich here and

“there rise in long

chains “Of mountains , are due toA 1 n s im ilar . ag g lomorat ion s of ani

ma lcu les with calcarious shells ,and in spite -of the size of th e layers ,are n evertheless xcom pOS ed entirely

_

Of

the debris of m icroscopic , F oram in

ifera'

The - imagination is awed when ittries to realize the power of organic

l ife which produce s ..Such

_

masses bythe S im ple agg lom orat ion of creaturesalmost i nvisible .

The shells of t h e'

m icroscop ic m ol

lusos which.

comprise mountains are

only formed Of carb On at e of_

lime a n d

s o extremely small th at it has beencalculated it would require -abou t 10

to make a pound Of chalk .

MANUAL OP GEOLOGY

By Jas . B . D ana

On Pages 722-23 an d {24 E levations

of m oun tains has been presented from

d ifi eren t view points .

“There are

“ref.

en ces h ere jan d there to lateral forcespowerful

“Ag en cies f an d ' adequate force

to elevate the mountain ranges .

A 3 He states : “E lev at ion of Mou n

t ains . The force engaged"

in

producing the great systems of plications Over the earth is sufficient

,for

the e levation of mountains of allhe ights

”;

I t appears t hen , that t h e tensionwithin the crust continued accum u

lating through long interv als , before i treached that degree which was suffi cien t to bring on an e poch Of plication .

LYE LL’S E LE ME NTS OF GEOLOGY

Yet persi stent as may be theA 2 leading featu res Of land Sea -On

the globe , they are n ot im m u

table .

AME RIC ANAMou n t ain s Vo l . X 1

Quot at ion f rom t h e“Ice —”Age”

A 5“The majesty of the Ice-mov e

m ent is equalled only in themov ement of the forces of Astronomy ,

or in ,that

‘

Of those which have elev ated th e mountain ranges on th e surfaces of the earth .

Little as we unde rstand at p resentthe laws whi ch govern the di stributionof volcanic heat in the interior—andcrust of the globe , by wh ich mountainchains , high table ends , and

'

theabyss

'

es Of . the oceans are formed , itseem s clear tha t this heat is the primeon which a l l t h e grand-er feat uresin the

'

external configuration of theplanet depend .

- The’most prominent and the great

es t'

n um b er Of mountains in'

t h e worldare formed by the foldings of the

earth’

s crust . Various theories'

A 4 have been advanced regardingthe causes of the mountain

folds . t . i s generally a ccepted t hatheat has had much to do

,e tc . , yet so

little is known , that n o theory yet adv an ced can as a . whole be ac

cep ted .

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"

Th e Thu n der Bay H istorical

Society

n n u a

Papers of 1922

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El unhrr 715 51 iatnrit al Sui t ing

(ibff urra 1922 -23

Honorary President Hon . Sir George E . FosterPatron and Patroness Mr. and Mrs. N. M .

President Mr. Peter McK ellar

Vice PresidentSecretary-Treasurer Miss M . J. L . Black

EXEC UTIVEMr F. C . P erry

John K ing Mr. C . W. Jarvis MajorW. J . Hamilton

AUDITORS

Mesdames George A. Graham and Peter McK ellar.

TiHIUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

Secretary-Treasu rer’

s ReportM ISS M . J .

'

L. BLAC K

Oct . 1 , 1922 .

Mr. President an d Fellow Members :

.

I have the honor tO'

presen t the following report for . the year just

clos ing .

.Three regular meetings were held ,at which the two papers , which are

an d h elpfiil attendant at all ou r meeting

'

s .

WVe have received the f ollowingdonations and

’

exchanges , Annual ré

port Women’s C anadian HistoricalSociety, 1 921 Miniiesota His

5 t ory b ul letin , 1 921-22; Minnesota History Bulletin , August 1 92 1 ; C anadianHistorical Association report, 1 922 ;

to be 111110118 t in th1s an nual~ we re ’

C anadian National parks publications :read . We have twelve paid up members .

We regre t to have to report t h e

death of three of ou r faithful members Mr. and Mrs . A . L . Russell , w h o

died in Ot tawa , and D r. E . B . Oliver .

Th e first t wo were chartered mem

b ers, an d Mr. Russell was Our vice

pres Iden t for m any years . Dr . Oliverunited with us wh en he first came

to_gjt

‘

h e_city, an d was a most “regular

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC ALS OC IETY

F in anc ial Report

R‘eee ipt s

'

Oct ; 1 , 1 921

d ernm en t grantMembership FeesMr. and Mrs . F. C Perry

Mr ane s N M W J‘

M cK en z ie

Dr. E . B . Ol iverMr . F red Fregeau

Miss Robin

.A nne‘

, N .S .

“Lake E rie C ros s , Port Dover,x

Gu id e

to Fort C hambly , Que .i’

,

“Guide to Fort

annual report WesternR eserv e Historical S ociety ,

”

1 922 ;

photograph of N eeb in g Hotel , in 1877 ,g iven . b y Miss Ketch of ‘The

’

ssalon .

Al l Of wh l ch

m it t ed ,

is respépt fu l lx sub

S ecret ary ;

Major an d Mrs . W . J . HamiltonM r. an d Mrs . A . C . C assel lm an .

C aptain M cC an n el l

Dis b u rsem e n t s

Flowers for S oldiers’

Monumen t 10.00

H istoric Landm arks Association 5 00‘

Printing annualBalance in Bank

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8 THUNDER “

BAY H ISTOR I C AL-1 SOC IE TY

'

of London,E n g , deputy governor of

th e Hudson Bay C ompany, were thep ersons appoin ted for that purpose .

The party,“which was com posed of

Mr. Nicholas Garry with .S imon McGil l iv ray an d h is brother Will iam ,

left Lachine on May 27 , 1 821 . .I E achofficial h ad -

“a

_body servant to p repare

h is food and look after his personal

_

comfor'

t . Their conveyance was what'

M r;'

Garry . calls a “light” canoe , thatis on e which did n ot carry freight . In

reality it w as a craft of’

trem e‘

ndousS ize , compared With those of m oderndays - The

_ir canoe was thirty-six feet

l ong with a width of s ix . feet , an d

could“carry 9000 pounds , and was

manned by a crew'

of thirteen sturdy“French C anadian voyageurs an d on e

Iroquoi s Indian . Sault S te Marie wasreached ou June 2 5 th .

At_three o

’

clock ih the afternoon of

sunday , July l s t , 1 821 , the party landed at F ort Will iam an d were welcomed

with a vol ley o'

f_yel ls from the Ih

d ians an d a volley of shots frOm the

guns of the C anadians . A more su b ~

dued greeting came from the traders

an d factors wh o h ad assembled therefrom th e many d ifi eren t posts from

Lake Superior, Westward to theRocky . Mountains , to meet the greatmen—t h e rulers of th e Western R i it

Mr; Garry "stayed in Fort Wil liamthree weeks, a n d b y h is account hissojourn here was Very little l ike a b ed

of roses, as it appeared that a numberof Northwest partners were reluctantt o sign th e new agreement . The chieffactors refused to allow the commonchief traders to s it in council withthem . _

. Th e : apportionment'

of post'

swas another subject of dispute . Itwas n ot until the 1 1 th of July that Mr .McGil l iv ray inform ed th e depu ty govern or that the North we st p artnerswere ready to S ign the covenant of

rule new c ompany .

C onsidering the best plan to openthe business of th e new concern wasto h ave a general m ee

‘

t in g jf writes

Mr . Garry, “I. mention ed my intsutions to the chief factors They

, h ow

ever protested , i t being a bad precedent in admitting the chief traders .On communicating this to the MoGill iv rays , Mr. S imon

’

M cGi l l iv ray im i s cr‘

ibed by. M r; Garry :

Among these appointments are somewh ich .

'

m ay _

b e’

of in terest'

t e t h e present generation .

.

‘A-n interesting event“: in t he earlydays of F or t .W il liam .

‘

- is'

thus dea“Weh ad today

m edi ately found . ou t that the’

com

mis sions stated the f actors were members of f

‘

C ou n ci l s in Ru pert Land”

Only, Thus '

n o meeting in regularferm

'

of council“

could be“convened .

“Mu

’

ch discussion ,

’

took place on thesubject . At - length , after a great deal

_of reasoning with the chief factors ,

_ they all declared . t h rou gh'

a deputation , e xcepting three , that any sug g es

tion from m e, as t o their post s f wou ld

b e at ten ded to—an d al l this in a"

con

ci l iatory , proper manner . :Thus theywere appointed an d every diff icultyhere . removed . On Thursday July 1 2 ,a meeting or council was to have

’

beenconvened , but the papers and . arran ge

ments of posts n ot be ing ready,it was

'

put off till’

th e’

n ext day—Friday, 1 3thof July . _ S ome

_

of~

the partners ,disliking the day , con e

s id erin g t h e day -ominous , hinted theyshould p refer S aturday .

,

Th e chieffactors protested against the

“traders

attending the meeting . M r.

-

S imon Mc

Gil l iv ray pointed ou t_that < the“com

missions were so worded that t hey

(the ch ief traders ) were only m embers of the counci l in Rupert

’

s Land ,an d thus n o regular meeting coul d beconvened .

. On looking at -m y own Ifound my commission was to th e sameeffect . Thus I have n o power here ,an d every act is on my ow n respon

s ib il ity .

Nicholas Garry seems to have b eena m an of determination with a giftof diplomacy , for d espit e other bickerings inside of a week h e had

“fixed”all thos e touchy Nor

’wester'

s'

with_

ap

poin tm ent s to the various posts for

which~

Fort'

William was the headquarters .

Fort Wi lliam—Alex . S tewart , C hiefTrader.

'

Lake Nipigon—Rod eric M cK en z ie .

Pic R iver Alexander“McTav ish ,

clerk .

Michipico’

ten Donald M cIn tosh ,

C hief Trader.

Lake Huron—J n o.

’

M cBean ,

'

C hiefTrader.

THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IET Y 9

Saturday , July 7 th , th e ceremony,

of

the two chiefs offering their presents

in the great hall , and receiving a re

turn . The chiefs , preceded by , , anE nglish . flag , m arch ed in to

_the hall ,

accompanied b y g'

al l the tribes . Theyimm ediately arranged themselve s ;and then commenced smoking .

After Mr.‘

M cGill iv ray (consideredas

‘

their great father ) and'

m y self hadseate

‘

d ourselve s‘

the chiefs desiredtheir presents to be spread ou t . They

consi sted of twenty Very fi ne beaverskins . On e of t h e chiefs th en roseand , really in a very graceful manner,made a S peech .

He said h e regretted that a moreable person than he was n ot th e chief,

on e w h o could better express his at

tach m en t , an d that of his childre ,n to

their great father . His tribe had beenafflicted with sickn ess an d this wou ldin

'

part'

accou n t for the fe w re0p le'

h e

had brought with him , b u t th ere was

anoth er -cau se which h e even more re

g ret ted Which was that a blackbirdhad decoyed away some of his follo

'

we

‘

rs “As long as th e mountain re

mains fixed ” he said , pointing to a

very high? moun tain which is nearF ort

_

Wil l ia1n ,

“so long would h e ' an d

h i'

s'

fol lowers remain true to his g reatfather.

” The blackbird h ad w h is

pered to h im that an - alterat ion wouldtake place in

“

t h e trade , but- h e

“did

not bel ieve it , and rel ied-on his great

fath er .

”

Mr.

’

McGil l iv ray then replied to

h im ,saying that h e was happy th e In

dians had fulfilled their pr01n ise _in

paying their debts , regretted the sickness , an d th at the blackbird (theAmericans ) had decoyed away someof his people , that the Northwestcompany had certainly united andWould become one company , but thatthis

“would make n o alteration in their

dealing s with them .

After this Mr M cGil l iv ray’

s prescut s were brough t in , which consistedof two .red coats faced with blue and

gold braid , a round hat , an d a shirt .These they at once put on , undressingin

“the .most formal way,

“without

changing a . muscle of‘

their faces .

Th en rum an d_

tob acco,in considerable

amount , was ,divided among them

“

.

Af t er this they g ave Mr . M cGil l iv ray

- I t took three weeks t o sett le thecontentious matters between the chief

factors , traders an d th e‘

depu ty govern or, and M r. : Garry seem s to hav e g otsomewhat

“peeved!

”f or when h e took

his departure for t h e in t erib r on July

the pipe to smoke , and then departed .

They are of the same tribe of Indianswhich we have met throughout our

whole journey—th e C hippeways .~They

are a fi n e looking people ; on e of t h em—a very handsome m an an d a greatdandy—iwas very much painted in

'redan d white . In his ears were largeround earrings , an d rings in h is nose .

H is hair'

w as worn in a tail behind ,and plaited in l ong strings in frontwhich were joined by silver clasps ;Another on e of t h em i s supposed to

hav e murdered h is fath er , mother,and the whole

‘

fami ly , consisting of

t en persons in all ; he h ad denied theact , but there was no doubt on th esu bject . If anything c ould make thecrime more diabolical it was that h ehad murdered his father, led on b yhunger

,that he might feed on t h e

body, an d the rest of the family thatthe

‘

crime m ig h t'

n ot'

become"

known :He h ad

’‘bl

'

ackened h is . face , pretendin g t o mourn the death of h is family .

In t h e"evening , all the

‘

I ndians g otvery drunk , an d

‘

the chief brough tsome into th e fort to p rev ent th embeing killed .

011 the following d ay the“Indians

at Fort William pre sented a wardance . The chief, dressed in his n ewred coat , faced with blue , and lacedwith gol d tinsel , entered the fort fol

lowed by the whole ba’

nd . They werealmost -

,naked an d had their bodie s

painted in a most fantastic manner;some , wh o endeavored to representWild beasts, had on their heads t h e

skin"

of a wolf, fox , or d eer. On e man

was entirely n aked , with his bodypainted . to represent leather . Theirfaces

“were painted v erm iil l -ion With=

black stripes , an d t h’

e‘

yfi'

d anéed to t h e

b eating of'

a drum perform ed -b y t he

old men of th e band . It was '

a dread“

fully h ot day, an d t h ey'

appearedgquiteexhausted , the dance b eing entirelymuscular , or rather -an exert ion v on

the muscles , a t h row in g'

t‘

h em selv es on

their h ands then raising th e shou lders

,then on e leg . They danced about

an hour an d then retired .

”

10_ THUNDER BAYH isron icAL SOC IE TY~

21s t , he remarks Left Fort Wil liam,

an d never in my life have I left a

place With less regret Mr.

-MoGi l liy ra

‘

y accompanied us as far as Mountain Portage (K akabeka Falls ) .

“C ur canoes are much Smaller thanthe M ontreal C anoe , and are called the‘

C anoes of the N orth’

an d t h e'

n am e e of‘

_

Voyageur d u Nord ,’ -

or »

‘

M en of theNorth ,

’

is g iven t o th eir (crews w h o,

from long experience , an d b eing moreinured to the ch anges of . climate ,fatigue an d p

-riv at ion , are more

hardy . Ou r canoe is. almost twent yfi v e feet in length four feet s ix incheswide , an d weigh s about two hun dredand fifty pounds We started abou t 10o

’

c lock an d ~ ~at 12 o’

clock passed Po intM eu ron ,

1a post built by , Lord selkirkfor the Hudson Bay C o. Th e river

we are on n ow . is called the K am inist iqu -ia or R iver of . I slands , It is from1 8 to 1 4 m ile in breadth . Th e shoresare low an d uninteresting , except . avery fi ne mount ain near Fort Williamwhich has no name , of ,thesame ch aracter a nd

'

b oldness as th e

Tonnerre”(Thunder C ape ) .

_

F or those ol d voyageurs du Nordof a century ag o, whose flashing paddl es , from dawn till dusk , kept timeto such enl ivening chansons de c anotas “La belle Rose du R os ier Blan c

En ,

Roulant -f m a,Boule ,

”or“A la

C lai re Fontaine ,” as they swept along

the w inding streams or threaded the irway through th e is lan -

d studded lakesof , th e ,

northwest , Mr . . Garry had r

a-a

g reat s adm irat ion . A few days aft erleaving Fort William he write s : “Aninstance of '

th e fine . m an ly ’

ch aracter

of“t h e C anadian , v oyag eu rh a power _

of

enduring hardships, un der the mostsev ere, .

-privations ,'

occurred today . Byah

“omiss ion at Fort -William , n o pro

v i sions were put i n t h e.canoe for

t h em p an d they -

h ad actually, in thiscount ry; of portages . an d diff icultm arch in g , . noth in g to. subsis t on b ut

hard I n dian corn whi ch they had n ot

had time'

to boil , thus'

going throu ghlabor,

- 'which,w it h ou t s eein g it, could

support .not be imagined fo

"

r1'

n“Could

‘

Not a-

"

Word of discontentwas uttered but

"

they continued polite ,obligin

’

g an d sing ing the ir lively an i

mating songs to the last . T he worthydeputy governor n aively adds

,i“We

had , fortunately, plen ty of provisionsfor ourselves .

In con du ct in g th e,canoes into

'

theinterior, several thousands of miles ,the voyageur actually exists on I n

“

dian cOrn , without spirits , an d n o

liquid but water . All is life , an im ae

tion ,and “anxiety as,to Wh o sha

_

l_l l ead

the away . w it h '

ou r party . The men ,w h o are

‘

n ow called “northwest m en”

,

held in great contempt those v oy

ag eu rs whose journey fin i shes at F ort

Will iam , an d w h o are known as Man

g eu rs de lard or pork eaters , so

called!from their food , consi sting ofpork Which they mix with their Indiancorn .

”

The crew of ou r canoe consists of

a guide,a steersman and s ix paddlers .

In t h e morning before daylight th e

tent is s truck ,an d you are left wi th

ou t covering to dress as.

well as youcan , on accoun t o f the tent poles beingplaced on the . bottom of the canoebefore anything else . Mr . M cGi l l i

v ray’

s crew consists of pork eatersor Montreal m en (as h e in t en d s

'

re

turning to Montreal ) . There”

wasmuch .

emulation b etween the two

crews , but we had the advantage ,which was satisfactory to m e. Th e

rivalry between the tw o crews can

hardly be described , b u t our m en

(norweste'

rs ) had so much . th e adv an

tage th at Mr. M cGil l iv ray was obliged

to take an additional man at RainyLake .

F rom :Fort W illiam Mr. Garry pro

ceeded to R ed . River, an d thence to

York factory , i n t h e -Hudson Bay, via

th e”

Nelson ? R iver, Which - h e reached

on August 20th . He took h is depart

u re from that place , on th e'

H . B . C o ;’

s

ship‘

E d dy s t-on

'

e'

on S ept . 4 th , and ar

rived .i h London Nov .

_

1 s t , a fter almos t

Six m on th s o f continuous travelling .

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12 . THUNDE R . BAY‘

H ISTQRIC ALESQC IETTY

Ma w - qr “H a ”

s ituated on a rise of ground on Sh oreof L . S .

Having n o n atu raI h arbor a b reakWater is to . b e can striwt ed to fél

‘

lh .

bui lt byon e . At pré‘Se’

ri t‘

the docksm ean s iof crib b i ng sd ar into th e lakeserve as a shelter in time of . storm .

Th e town b oasts of two first clas s

_

Th e future of th e place looks promi sing owing to t h e discovery of avaluab le Si lver Mine in

“

the v icinity :alSo t h e prospect of its b eing th e ter:

minu s Of t h e C anadian Pacific R . R .

a small place Six mile d iStant , knownas t h e Town Plb t,

“disputing W1t h it .

t h e h bnor of th e terminus. Th e question Will doubtles s soon "

b e settled b yact of parl iament

_

A few. miles from t h e Lan dm g at

th e mou th of th eis Fort Wil liam an old Tradm g Post

and ;Lake

S uperior . can a m ore magnifi centview b e ob tained than in

_

th e vicinity of F ort Will iam.

Before it, Pie Island looks like animm ense tower

_

or castle , ris ing out .Of

th e Water to th e height of nearly 900

feet—oh th e west MoK aye mountain,

“

1 ,000 feet , overlooks the b eautifu lK am in ist iquia, winding as it doeS andempt ying its Waters through threemouths into Lake Superior—hence itsn ame , which , in th e Indian l anguageSign ifi es

“winding channel with manymouths

”'—form s a picture.

The m outh of the river is shallowand sandy, so b oatS drawing m uch

'

water are unab l e to enter At presen t dredges are at Work an d it is

’

hoped that it will soon be all righ t .J ust n ow th e question agitating theminds of all interested in the placesis ,“Which would be th e cheaper to

much of th e pleasure of a trip up th e

,K am in is

‘

tiqu ia'

R iver“dredge the mouth of th e K amin is t iquia or build a b reakwater at theLan ding ?”

matter very serious though t I sh all ,

not attem pt to Settle it for themTw enty-six miles from them outh

the celebrated Kakabeka Falls 1841

feet high . Below the fails th e rapidsex tend a dist ance of ten m iles Tour?

.

“Blackstone ,

As I have not given the”

1SI S"

.

W-

iv

shx

lhb '

gm

fafig v

Vi’

Sit fth e' ‘

F’alls

' "

C an”

5 S

tug M ;whichIndians?

6 t th F hlAh . u m

'

We paSS that greatest oi_

governmentswindles , the Neeb in g Hotel , with“whose; h istory s .the reading pu b l ic :1

‘“is

shore“is: th e w -In dian . M isSion

‘

restablish

chargie . oii -f. them a n d Daug h ters v aot

Mary .

”Th e latter order was founded b y,

some noble French ladies , wh o duringsome religious persecu tion in F ranceWere obliged to d ress in SecularC lothes . They have not adopted anyparticular style or h ab it s ince cen Se

quently unl ike other rel igious ordersthey dres s plainly in prevail ingstyles , and look like happy _

_

old maids .

Th rough kindnessof Superioress, MissMartin , .

we were sh own through th e

C onvent , C hurch an d“Schoolh ouse .

AS school h ad closed we did n ot hearthe Indian children s ing , W hich , we

were informed, they did v ery finely .

heM isSion is t h e Townth e Indian R eserv e, s ixT he Indians are partly

QJl b awa an d“Ottawas . The C hiefa noble Warrior, '

frequently visits th e Town Plot and

Landing dressed in Indian costume ,his b lack h ai r adorned with plumes .

He creates no'

little Sen sat ion Wh erever he appears . He boasts of plenty

,

of lan d and“

five squaws”

. and thinksthat With . th e honor of being wife of

a ch ief, sufficient to induce almostan y girl to be M rs. Blackstone No . 6.

Th e .

-K am in ist iqu ia i s a beautifulwinding stream , at every turn giving.

one a new an d deligh tful s11rprise at .

the beauty it unfolds . To the Cou rte sy .

of C ap . C ousins in answerin g questions regarding th e country , k indnessin pointing ou t places of interest andgiving us an Opportunity of vis iting

them an d with h is never failing goodhumor passen gers are indebted for

A run of eighteen h ours fromP AL andin g bring s us to Duluth on the

Southern Shore. At this ci ty those

g oing to Manitoba take th e cars for

R ed R iver Route wh ich is much short~

er than th e old DaWs’

oh road , v ia

P . Arthur’s Landing , n ow .

'

ab andoned .

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Th e Thu n der Bay H istorical

Society

n n u a

Papers of 1923

(“LTunhvrmay lflifi irxriral Sm it ty

OFFICERS 1923-24

Honorary Honorab le Sir George E . Foster

Mr. PeterMcK ellar,

Patron and PatronessPresiden t

Vice Presiden tSecretary-Treasurer Miss M . J . L. Black

COMM ITTEEpapt. McC annel Mrs. Of

ix

A.Graham Mrs . J . M .

Mr. C. W. Jarv is MajorW . J . Ham ilton Mr. F . C. PerryMr. Alex. McNaughton .

AUDITORS

C . W . Jarv is and Miss Pamphylon .

Mr. and Mrs. N. M . W . J . Macken zie

Mr. John K ingMrs. Peter McK ellar

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THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

The Little Pic Silv er M ine-b y PETER M cK ELLAR

RE PORT OF THE DEVE LOPMENTS

TO THE HON. WM . C AYLEY

AND AS SOC IATE S

S irs :

I have the honour of reporting to

you as follows in reference t o the dev elopm en t s of the Little P ic Loca

tions .

According to Agreement on receip tof the first instalment of

cheque from you , I procured 1 2 menan d suppl ies an d started on the 1 2thof June last from Fort Will iam on

Tug Watchman (Specially charteredfor ou r use ) to the Locations ; wh ichare distant from Fort William about1 5 0 m iles—arriving at o ur destinationon th e 1 4th . We worked steadily withou t intermi ss ion until th e 21 s t of August las t when work was clos ed . I re

turned w ith all hands an d 22 barrels

of ore as samp le of that from No . 1

Shaft , in the sam e Tu g w ith S choonerMary-Ann

”in tow , sent specially to

bring. us back .

We opened and mined in on e Driftand four Shafts bes ides making s ome2 5 cross-cuts in the overlying driftor earth , covering a m ile in extentalong the vein ; for the purpose of

tracing it as it had been exposed on

high p laces only , an d at long intervals .

On e Sh aft 6 by 12 feet was sun k 2 to3 feet

,on e 7 by 8 was sunk 6 feet

,on e

8 by 10 feet was sunk 1 3 feet an d theother or No Shaft on 49 , 6 by 1 1

feet , was sunk to the dep th of 3 1 fee t,an d well timbered w ith a good w indlas s in pos ition . The Drift was driven27 feet from the p lace of beginning ,getting 8 feet under cover . At 10 of

the cross-cuts the rock was n ot reached owing to the dep th of earth . Attwo or three other veins it is from 6

to 8 inches in width but in most place sit is over 3 feet wide an d in many,over 6 feet . The vein is subject todecomposition at surface , so thatwith a few excep tions , we were u n

able to reach t h e solid though we fol

l owed it down in many p laces 5 to 6feet in the glacier between the two

walls . Wherever we blasted into thesolid

_lode we found the argentiferou sores in considerable quantities ; And ,at each p lace in sinking we noticed a

decid ed'

im prov em en t in the ore bothin quality

~ and quantity, and in th e

deepest shaft near the bottom we discovered native

,S ilver in thin leaves

an d fi n e particles through t h e vein

stone .

About nine tons of ore was assorted—3 at the Drift and 3 at each of

the two deepe s t Shafts—of course ,only a portion of what was taken ou t . ’

Over two tons of that from No . 1 Shaftwas packed to the Shore an d broughtaway to have it tested . On e of thebarrels contains about 400 pounds of

t h e Argentiferous compact zinc ore

from t h e bottom of the 30 feet Shaft .

An average specimen of which (about4 pounds ) was “pulverized an d anaverage samp le taken by Mr . C h id

dey (ass-ayer of the Duncan Mine ) ityielded silver per ton . A

samp le of the galena ore‘

(of whichthere is a considerable qu an t ity )

’

f .rom

the bottom of the same shaft wastested by Mr . C h id d ey and after separat in g the gangue

‘

by washing ityielded per ton , of s ilverbe sides that the lead

,

would be worthto per t on ; so that the

ore after washing would be worthabout $200. per t on . The ga lene atsurface in thi s Shaft yielded ofs ilver to the ton while as above shownat 30 feet yielded Againthe native silver is showing in fineparticles at the bottom while at surface none w as seen , besides the quantity of ore is much greater below ;therefore

,there is every indication

that at a greater depth it Will be muchricher . I have made repeated tests ,w ith the Blow-p ipe , of

_

the ore fromthe different Shafts at various depthsan d found it always carried the silverin more or “les s quantitie s , an d apparently improving in depth .

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY

All doubts of its giving ou t by sinking will be dispelled , when it is knownth at it has been ' traced for about 3m iles , showing the same ch aract eris

tics an d ores throughout ; and thatit cuts the v ertica l sotates (countryrock ) at an angle of 40

° w ith theirstrike , and also the intrusive dykesof trap and porphyry which in thevicinity are numerous .

On the location is a fine water-power

,in the most favorable situation pos

sible for working the se ores . It isimmediately adjacent to the 30 footShaft and could be worked a t least 8months in the year and , I believe thewhole 12 months

,w ith a small outlay

in securing it from the frost .I have brought to Toronto 2 barrels

of sam pl es , w h ich t for your sat isfac

tion , I p ropose to have examined byProfessor C hapman , in order to gethis op inion as to whether or n ot

_it

would be advisable to have two tonsof ore, n ow lying at Windsor , sme lted ,before proceeding an y further .

They can be treated either atNewark , N .J . , or Wy andotte , but insma ll parcels like this it costsper t on . For my part I am perfectlysatisfied , without going to _

the expenseof te sting the 2 tons , that the developm en t s should , if possible , be car

ried on this w inter, the results al

ready obtained, to

-m y m ind , very satisfact ory . In co-n clu s ion

'

I would saythat my working on the lod e this summ er has streng thened me in th e beliefpreviously expressed to you , that it isa rich silver lode which only requiresdevelopment to prove remunerative .

I see by an extract in th e E ngineering

‘

an d Mining Journ al of July24th

, from the R eport of the C omm is

Cl

We have a great advantag e over theS ilver Islet C ompany in having agreat length of vein on the dry landan d a good water power close at handto drive the machinery .

I rema in ,Your Ob e-dient S ervant,

PE TE R McK E LLAR .

Toronto , 20th S eptember, 1 875 .

s ion er of Mining S tatistics (U nitedS tates ) that the Hale an d Narcross

on e of the famous Mines on the GreatC omstock S ilver Lode , which has at

tain ed the enormous depth of 2200

feet, an d of course requiring very expensive machinery for hoisting , et0

°

had worked during the yeartons of ore which yieldeda yield of les s than per t on ;an d in some m ines ores yielding muchless is worked . Now when ores likethis .can be worked -w ith profit in

Nevada where labour, fuel , and supp lies of all kinds are so much more expens ive than on Lake Superior, surelywe can work with profi t ores of amuch lower grade

,being directly con

n ected by water w ith numerous railway centres an d large m anufacturingC ities of the United S tates andC anada . The present summer’s developmen t s at S ilver Island prove thisbeyond dispute fer I am credibly

,

in

formed that the cost of mining , stamping an d separating th e ores

"

does n ot

exceed per ton , the yield of

the ore, worked being $1 5 to $2 5 perton . The shipp ing an d fu rth er redu c

tion of , t h e concentrated ore w illamount to a trifle on account of itsrichness .

6 T‘HUNDE IR BAY H ISTOR I C AL S OC IE TY

b y PETER M cK E LLAR

This report is drawn up under thefollowing heads : (1 ) Prelim inary R emarks ; (2 ) S ite an d General Description of the Property ; (3 ) Minera lFeatures ; (4 ) R esult of Assays andTest in the Large Way ; (5 ) Buildingsan d Mining Plant on the Prope rty ;(6) Proposed System of Working theMine ; -7 ) Approximate E stimates R equired to Place the Mine in RunningOrder ; (8 ) General Description of theS ilver Lode .

(1 ) PR E LIM INARY REMARKS :The property upon which this reportis made is traversed by two distinctmetalliferous lodes . The on e intersect in g location K 1 20 i s a copper orelode carrying gold an d s ilver ; th e

other int ersecting locations V449 , V-5 0

S ITE AND GENE RAL DE S C R IPTION OF THE PROPER TY : Theproperty comprises altog ether th e follow ing locations :

(1 ) K -1 20 mile s N . W . of Harbor Bay

(2 ) V 49 m iles N . of Harbor Bay

(3 ) V 5 0—Ad‘

=j oining V-49 on the West

(4 ) V 5 1—Adjoining V-5 0 on the West

(5 ) V 5 2—Fronting on H arbor Bay

Total No . of Acres

The country is rough , -rocky an d

mountainous, elevated in places 800

to 900 feet above the Lake . These 10cations have been to a great extentstripped of wood by fires , but in thevicin ity are to be -found patches of

good or ordinary timber .

This patch of Huronian slates is surrounded on t h e land side by Syeniticgranite , which sent arms or dykes intoth e s lates for more than a m ile fromthe general line

’

of contact . I con

sider the geological condition s of thislocality most favorable for m etal l ifer

ou s lod es .

It is proposed t o commence theworks by building the m ills for crushing an d concentrating the ore at thesame time set a few m iners to drivein on t h e i v ein from the foot of the ascent which w i ll give 70 feet over head .

622 acres .

6

Uninformed parties m ight think thebuilding of the mi ll premature ; therefore the following reasons wil l explain °

an d V-5 1 ;'

carrie s the ores of lead an d

zinc unusually rich in silver . The

property is s ituated on the North.

Shore of Lake Superior nearly op

pos ite the P ic Island an d about 1 40

m iles east of Fort William . LocationV-5 2 fronts on a bay which forms an

excellent natural.

harb or in Lake Superior line of steamers will call wheneve r business requires it . I ha v e h advery favorable opportunities of gainin g information of the m ineral charact eris t ics of this as all the workswere carried on under my own supervision , and I can conscientiously saythat I believe it is se ldom that cap i talis invested in m ining on s o sure a

foundation .

(1 ) A few thousand dollars expended on m ining would n ot be likely to

throw much additional light on thematter y et m ight cripple the concernso that the Mill could n ot be got intooperation w ithout an additional supp ly of working cap ital .(2 ) Without m illing , the ore would

be valueless as the freight on the associated m ineral would eat up theprofits .

The general show ing of thelode and developments already showthat there mus t b e ore enough thereto be worked ou t to justify the erecting of the mill .

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8 TE -UNDE IR BAY H ISTOR IC AL S OC IE TY

of quartz of the hardest kind whilethe P ie ore i s principally associatedwith soft talcose state . The ore , ; as

w ill b e seen b y the following assaysand returns from Swansea, i s _

com

parat iv ely. a very rich ore of copper.Th e test of tons in the rude stat egiving 10% per cent . of the metal , assay samp les giving 2 5 14,

of the metaland a . sh ipm en t of four, on e-half tonsin the rude state without concentration yielding 10% per cent . B esidesthat it shows a fair yield of the preciou s m etals h ranging from to

As the inclos ing rocks are the

true gold bearing formation of . the

coun try , ,

it‘ would n ot be unreasonable

for us to look for the free gold ins inking more especially as a vein

Date of Gross Weight Moisture Draftage"

Net .No.

"

Purchasers S ale 210.0.Gros s Per lb . Lb . t . 21 0

36 Lendon C opper C o. Apr.

“3rd . 4 9 5 drs . per 3 4

Produce Price AmountC . grs .

- 20 C asks at 4-D

-T . C g rs . S C HARGE S S

FRE IGHT 5 2 0 407 5 % primage 1 072C harges at S

New York , -1 Haulage to yard 87 1 1 Harbor Tolls at4 1/2 D—S l 7 1 1

91 days interest on above at 5 % per '

annumAssaying S i 5 7

Landing We ight in and ou t ; C rushing , Mixing , Samp ling , DeliveringWarehouse R ent

S ale , C ommis sion and Guarantee £ 29 1 8 1 1 14 %

Net proceeds due June 6th , 1 877

SWANSE A, MAY 2n d , 1 877 .

R IC HARDSON C OMPANY .

As says made by Professor E . J . C hapman for C opper, Gold and S ilver .

Metallic C opper S ilverFirst -Tria1 per cent . 1 oz . 7 dwt . 1 2 grs .S econd Trial per cent .

Average AmountThe va lueof ore

,per ton , at the low price

of 1 70 per lb . would beValue Of Gold , 7 dwt .Value of S ilv -er, 1 oz . 7 dwt . 1 2 grs .

i

=Am ou n t in the ton -80

(Heron Bay ) in the same formationnot 2 5 m iles distant sho'wed such aresult , the free gold n ot being visib leat surface . The H eron Bay p romisesto be a valuable m ine

,but at present

it i s not working owing t o sometrouble between the owners . Withou treference to indication pointed ou t ,

ou r calculations are based entirelyupon the present showing of the lodein regard to th e quantity of s ore ; andupon the results obtained from thet es t

‘

of the tons in reg ard to theyield or value of same .“Account Sales of C opper Ore ex

‘

C ornwall’ received at Swansea fromNew York via Bristol and sold for

Account and risk of Messrs . The LittleP ic Mining C o.

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY 9

Test for precious metals only by C has . K rissm an , Assaying Mining E n

g in eer for the Duncan Mine :

First Trial—Gold , oz .

S ilver, oz .

Total per tonS econd Trials—Geld oz .

S ilver, oz .

Total per tonR epeated tests With the blow-p ipe show that the precious metals are al

ways present in the ore in more or less quantities a t Swansea . The preciousmetals were n ot considered n or accounted for .

An approximate of the w orking capacity of the C opper Lode—Two menin four weeks m ined the five tons sent to Swansea besides many tons of a

lower grade_

ore left on the bank . Now, after carefully considering the matterin all its bearings I have come to the conclusion that With the mine in regularoperation with crusher an d concentrating Mills an d the m ine opened ou t forstop ing , _ 30 tons of ore could be worked daily , yielding at least 6 tons of 20%concentration ore at a cos t of running expenses Transportation toSw ansea , C om mis sion an d all would be less than per t on . Giving a resultper day“as fol low s z—5 tons of 20% concentrated ore at 1 7c per l b5 tons or 20% concentrated ore at 170 per lb .

Running E xp enseC ost of Transportation of five tons

Leaving balance clear profits

We propose to commence the worksby building the Mills for crushing andconcentrating the ore at the sametime set a few m iners to open ou t th e

vein . As some may think such acourse premature the follow ing reasons will exp lain matters .

1 st . The ore cann ot be sent to th emarket profitably un til after it is concen trated or m illed .

2na. By an y other course ou r cap ital would be too small to make us sureof carrying the m ine so

_a working

cap ital is being raised.3rd . Owing to the general depres ssion in money matters it would be diffi cu l t to rais e a large working cap ital .4th . The amount of mining done ,

though small , an d the large amount ofthe ore tested along w ith t h e generalshowing an d characteristics of thelode show that there is ore enough to

APPROXIMATE ES TIMATE S RE QU IRE D TO PLAC E THE MINE INRUNNIN G ORDE R .

Dam an d Race :Dam an d Work upon R aceOak Lumber for Wa ter C onductorIron Bolts , et c .

, for Water C onductorE xtras

be worked ,out to justify the erectionof mills a t once .

5 t h . A few thousand dollars expen ded ih m ining would not be likely to

throw m uch additional light on thematter, yet it m ight cripple u s so thatwe would be unable to get the m ill inoperation without raising more cap

ital .

The location is a small lake pas singpartly through, the outlet which isconvenient to

_the m ine an d presentsa fall over 30 feet in 3 5 . By buildinga small dam acros s a narrow gorge ,t h e little lake can be raised six feetan d it w ill answer adm irably as areservoir for a water power, its areabeing about 80 acros . It can eas ilybe secured from the

_winter frost . Byusing water power instead of steam '

avery conside rable saving in wood en

g in eerin g ,et c w ill be accomplished

in working the ore .

10 THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL S OC IE TY

C rushing C oncentrating Mills :

Timber for Building , 1 5 00 feetC ommon Lumber for Building 1 5 00 feetShingles 2 5 MNails

, Windows , etc .

Water Wheel

C rusher and C oncentrator

E xtras

R oads , Buildings , etc .

Tramway , M in e ‘

to MillBuildingsR oads R epairingS cowH orses , Wagon , S leigh, etc .

Land that should be secured for wood an d mill s ite

Total Amoun t

BU ILDINGS AND MINING PLANT

UPON THE PROPE RTY

On the S ilver Location in good or

der are the following buildings andMining Plant in good order belongingto the C ompany’

s Assets—al l of whichcan be removed to the C opper MineE ngine and Shaft House , 16

’x 32

’

,

boarded ins ide and ou t w ith boardroof .

A Dwelling H ouse l 2'x 32’ of s imilar construction .

A five horse-power E ngine and Boil

er w ith the necessary material readyfor hoisting .

An Ingersol R ock Drill completew ithr a tunnel 200 feet iron tubing an d

5 0 feet rubber tubing , 300 feet of hois tin g rope , 2 m ining buckets (on e water '

and on e rock ) a blacksmith ’

s forge ,anvil an d other tools , 300 to 400

poun ds of st eel drills , half dozen p icks , ‘

p ick axes , shovels , on e large cookingstove

,half dozen mattresses , fou r

pairs of blankets , table dishes , campkettles an d many other things u sefu l

in carrying on t h e Mine .

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12 THUNDER BAY H ISTOR I C AL

and maple,the latter growing on ele

v ated ground . There are several lakes

on it, fu l l of speckled trout, the bayis ful l of . salmon trout and white fish .

A schooner was loaded here last season in a very sh ort time w ith fishtaken in ,

an d about the harbor, andthe climate is said by ol d voyageursto be far more p leasant during thewinter than at the S ault , an d otherp la ces further south , be ing of a driernature . Between the Island and ,

themain land is the most sheltered passage w ith two excellent harbors on

each side, one

'

at Otters C reek and theother at

“Michip icoten R iver, an d

harbor .

The latter place is. an importantport of the Hudson

’

s Bay C ompany ,distant from“Moose Fort on Hudson

’

s

B ay , 300 m iles , this h as been passedover in canoes in six days . M ich ipi

coten Island is said to contain greatm ineral deposits—s ilve r, c0pper‘

an d

lead .

_ The Quebec Mining C ompanyhave a locat ion here . At day-break onThursday we passed S late Island , andshortly after encountered a dense fog ,

an d lay to till’

1 p m .- It was two

o’clock before we saw land . Passedclose to Thunder C ape , a perpend icular rock ri sing from the water’s edge1 35 0 feet . Anchored at Fort Williams ituated at t h e mouth of the K am in is

t iquio‘

R iv er at 7 p m . on Thursday the

1 5 th an d landed off the mail . Owingto a bar

,and the shoal at the mouth of

the river,we anchored about a m ile“

from the Fort, early on Friday thel 6th . S ome of the party went up th eriver to t h e Jesuit Miss ion , aboutthree m iles . where they were kindlyreceived by the Priest .

C apt . James Dick ,and M r.

. M eM ur

rich went fishing to C urrent R iver ,about fi v e m iles to the north , wherethe speckled trout proved too

_l arge ,

an d strong for their light rods an d

tackle , smashing the sop s of theirlines and flies as fast as they werethrown in and they h ad to give it u pfor want of material . On e of t h e

trout caught was the largest Speckledtrout I h ave seen for many years .

There are trout in this stream, andin all rap id streams between th e Saultand Fort William , from 2 lbs . to 6 lb s .

and if larger ones are required,at

N ipegon R iver they can be caught

SOC IE'

TY

from 8 lbs . to 1 2 lb s . Fancy such aspot, y e d isciples of Isaac Walton ;

. speckled trout to”be had for the

trouble of throwing a fly ; withindays of Toronto , weighing from two

to twelve pounds . In this are to b e

found beautiful specimens of Ameth y st and other precious stones . Thegardens at F ort William , and the Jesuit

’

M i ss ion are as forward as those ont h e north part of the county of S imcoeThe Hudson

’

s Bay C ompany have alarge farm

,5 0 cows besides horses an d

sheep an d up the river there are other “

farms ; they raise oats , barley an d allother kinds of vege tables , an d I seen o reason wh y they cann ot raisewheat . Mrs . M cIn ty re, the w ife of t h e

agent , was very polit e , and kind , an d

invited us all up to the Fort—g aveu s supplies of m ilk , an d vegetables .

By thi s route their trade is carriedon to R ed R iver . S ir George S impson returned from R ed R iver just b efore we arriv ed , w ith two canoes (9men in each ) an d left again for theSault . _ This bay, Black Thunder, Nee

p igon Bay , an d Pie Island bay, an d

neighborhood,abound in Whitefish and

trout—10 fish frequently fill a barrel20 as a general rule ; _

nets should b e5 V2 to rich mesh . Ou r p ilot, twoyears ago in five weeks , with two m en

filled 1 7 5 barrels . H e was furnishedby merchants at the S ault w ith barrelsan d salt

,and when returned full

—th e rate this year be ing aboutThirty barrel s of white fi sh weretaken at on e haul of a seiv e near FortWilliam . We left Fort William at 8p m . for Grand Portage , passing M c

Kay’s Mount of Greenstone , 1000 feetperpendicular height . La Pate on, .P ie

Island 85 0 feet perpendicular ; thisis land is said to abound in lead ; hardly a stone can be p icked up on theshore without lead in it . On al l t h ese

islands valuable stones can be p ickedup , fit for brooches and rings .

The channel being very intricate ,and the p ilot n ot quite posted up, welay to till daylight, an d entered GrandPortage Bay at 5 a . m .

,C apt . Kennedy

landed here w ith the mails , purchaseda canoe and was ready to Start beforeWe left . A nucleus Of a town has ai

ready sprung up here on the United

S tates s ide . After‘

giving C ap t . Kenn edy a hearty shake of the hand al l

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY 1 3

round , we started homeward ata . m . an d passed C opper Harbor at 2p m . Manit-o-u light p .m .

, White

fish point a m . an d on the 1 8t h

July entered Sault canal at a m .

C oaled on the American side an d

wooded on Pine’s wharf , British side .

Lan d ed'

t h e mail an d started at

p .m . ,came to the wharf at t h e Bruce

Mines at 7 p .m .

—wooded an d left at

p m . passing through the Missaga S tra i ts an d the channel betweenthe m iddle and West Duck . On the

1 9th,

passed C ove'

Is land light at 8 a .

m .

’

C abot’s Head at 10 a . m . and came

to the wharf at 'C ol l in gw ood at 6 p . m .

this making the first trip,including

delays an d stoppages rou nd Lake Superior

, in seven days an d six hours ;distance ru n ,

taken from B ayfi eld’

s

chart,between 1 25 0 an d 1 300 g eog ra

ph ical miles .x Th e average speed , run

ning time being a little over 10 m ilesper hour . The scenery , throughou t ,an d Specially that of Superior is m agn i ficent , an d n ow that the mean s ofcommunication are afforded to thisgreat , an d unknown region , in a safean d commodiou s boat , under t h e careof a . well-known , an d experien cedcaptain it must. became

,a favori te

route for t h e .tourist ' in . search of

health,and p icturesque scenery.’

AN , INTE RVIEW WITH C APTAINDIC K OF THE S . S .

’

RES C UE

(C op ied originally- from the :KingstonWh ig , into

'

the Thunder Bay

S entinel , of June 28,

C aptain Dick , Inspector of Hulls ,was

‘

t h e first who navigated a steamerup to Fort William , in Thunder Bay .

This was in 1 85 8 . The f act was an ihteres t in g on e , an d the Whig reportermeeting the genial captain a t the British American H otel h ad quite a length en ed interview with him about it . He

said t hat airing in 1 8 5 8 , a company of

Toronto peop le was formed an d a con

tract given t-o them to carry mail fromC ollingwood to Fort Garry, n ow Winn ipeg . C aptain Dick and his brother

Th ere .was great opposition to theproposed opening up of the nort hwes t,by the Hudson Bay C ompany , an d

through their efforts the mail contractwas abrogated an d the Toronto gent lem en suffered great los s .

went to Buffalo an d purchased theS teamer R escue , a handsome craft .Th e boat was originally built for service on the Florida coast

,but t h e com

pany w h o had her in hand failed , an dthe Dicks secured her for on e-third hervalue . The captain found her to bethe safe st steamer he had ever com

m an d ed . The wildest gales did notdisturb her.

Mr . Dawson , n ew member for Ai

goma , was engineer of the Torontocompany’

s case . He laid ou t the routefor taking the mails through fromFort William . Bridle pat hs were cu t

through to Dog Lake , thence to R ainyR iver, an d down as far as t h e boundary line . Boats were the-n dispatched down the Winnipeg river and fi n

ally the bags w ere carried across thep lains to Fort Garry , by Indians . Thefirst trip of the v oyag u ers was a dangercus on e, an d the mails went forward at t h e point of ' the revolver . TheIndia n s ob j ected to the advance of

civilization .

My first trip -was to Fort William ,

on the R es cue , said _the captain . I

had never been up the lakes before ,but by chart I succeeded in _ ge t t in gto my destination without touchingstick or stone .

“I t

‘

was a bright m oo-n

light night when I anchored off F ortWill iam ,

an d in ten m inutes afterwards , the boat was surrounded by ahundred canoes . They were filledwith ,

‘

In dian s , wh o h adfls ilen t ly sweptover to see the monster

,but they

would n ot come near the vessel . Presently the H . B . C o.

’

s factor approached ln a huge gondola rowed by twentyIndians , wh o sang their boating songs .

The night was p leasantly spent inconversation with the factor, wh o

pointed ou t , t h e night being veryclear , the magnificent territory whichthe H . B .

- C ompany controlled . Thecompany afterwards charged exorb i

tan t ly for everything that we wa nted .

They were opposed to ou r going intothe country an d finally succeeded in

getting ou r cont ract cancelled .

THUNDER BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IETY

We had much trouble in.keep in g

ou r canoe stations intact . Once , thatat Dog Lake was torn down an d theb oats scattered . I later bought on e

of ou r own boats at Fort William , butas soon as I

_d iscoVered

_

’

-ou r brand b en eath the seat , I refu sed to pay for it .We used coal on ou r trip s up , an d

wood going down . We bough t,land

‘

where Port Arthur is n ow , an d -w e

think we ~

s t il l have a claim there. Thegovernment sold it

_

w it h ou t ou r leave ,but the money we paid for it lies inthe -

'

C rown Land’s Office , and .we in

tend to'

h'

ave a refund or some satisfaction soon . Many a time I have

ST EAM E R

1 21 ft . 5 in ; Beam 22 ft . 9 in . ;

”taken on wood, at Port Arthur.

. WhenI first w ent up the lakes there wereonly three white men living on theroute .

What dl d you get” inquired t h e

reporter , “for carry ing the mails 9”We got tw elve hundred dollars a

trip .

”

“Did you carry much mail ?”The firs t m ail I took up consisted o ftwo letters

,an d three papers -f Pre

v iou sly the mail for t h e Hudson Bayfactors , was sent in from the HudsonBay .

“RES C UEBuilt at Buffalo , N . Y . 185 5 (Official No .

Depth 10 ft .Length between perpendicularsTons 248 net, 3 50 gross .

This w as the first registered C an ad iarfi s team er to pass through the OldS t ate Lock at S anite S te . Marie , Mich .

,in July 1 85 8, tradin g from C ollingwood

to Fort .IWilliam an d to Grand Portage , carrying pa ssengers , mail. and freight .

C apt . Dick b eink the commander . When the Prince of Wales (King E dwardVII . ) visited C ollingw ood S ept . 10t h , 1 860, this steamer took the R oyal partyfor a trip around the harbor .

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16 THUNDE R BAY” HISTOR ICAL SO C IETY

maculate C onception , an altitude of 1 8

or 20 feet . Near the M is sion t h e . In

dian R eserve of about 2 5 square m ilesbegins ; it embraces the best andlarge st area of cultivable land in t h evalley of the K am in ist iqu ia,

an d muchof it being situated on the flanks of

M cK ay’

s mountain range , some por

tions possess many advantages whichdo not belong to the available tractsnear t h e shores of Thunder Bay .

The general course of the ri verabove t h e Mission for a distance . ofnine m iles is towards the sou thwest ,by very -tortuous windings . Five milesfrom Fort William it approaches thebase of the elevated but broken tableland s to which McK ay

’

s Mountainform an imposing an d abrupt term ination . M cK ay

’

s Mountain has an eleva

t ioni

of 1000 feet above the lake , an d

is the north -eastern boundary of an

irregular but extende d trap range ,whose south-eastern flank follows thetrend of the coast as far as PigeonR iver .

- I t is worthy of remark , that th eflanks of Mackay

’

s Mountain support aheavy growth of hardwood timber(maple , an d through varioussources I was informed that this h eavily-timbered land stretches far to thesouthwest

, on the s ide an d borders of

the trap rang e . The rock form ations

which comprise the country betweenthe K am in ist iqu ia an d Pigeon R iversindicate t h e presence of a fertile s oilon the flank of the irregular tableland ; the . trap with which the slatesare associated giving rise upon d isin

teg rat ion to a so il of su pe rior character . At the Mission

,a light reddish

loam constitutes .the soil , having adepth of s ix feet, and resting upon abluish grey clay which extends to thewater’s edge .

The Mission of th e Immaculate C oncep t ion i s under the ch arge of theR ev .

, J ean Pierre C hone , who has re

sided on the banks of"

the K am in is t i

quia for nine years . From that g ent lem an , who kindly afforded me much ,information respecting _

this valley, Iobtained numerous facts of interest inrelation to it s

_adap tat ion for settlement . At the Mission there are ai

ready congregated from thirty to thir

ty -fi v -e h'ouses ( subs tantially built of

wood ; in their general arrangementand construction they are far superiorto the log h ou ses

'

of C anadian p ioneersin the forest . Many of them have g ardens attached to them

,a few

,

of whichwere in a good st ate of cultivation ;some sm all fields fenced w ith post andrail were in the rear of the mostthriving . The river here is from “

60 to70 yards wide

,its waters are very

turbid , w ith a current n ot exceedingtwo miles an hour .M . C h on e

’

s room , into which wewere adm itted, gave us a clue to theprosperity, cleanliness , and appearance of indust ry Which distinguishedthe Mission . A young tame partridgewas hopp ing about the floor when weentered . A number of books occup ieda small table in on e corner, the

“other

was taken up by a turning lathe,and

various articles manuf actured by th e

cure were lying about the room . A

l ow bed covered with a buffalo robefi lled another corn er, and while wewere conversing an ol d chief, dressedin scarlet clot h , quietly entered an d

p laced himself on a chair by the_s ide

of a small carpenter’s bench . whichfilled the remaining angle .

Among many interesting facts w ithwhich we were furnished by the kindness of M . C hone , we learned variousparticulars respecting the condition of

the Indians and their_relation to the

government of C anada , which an in

spect ion of t h e treaty confirmed .

In 1 85 0 a treaty was concluded bythe Hon . W . B . R obinson on behalf ofH er Majesty an d the Government of

the Province w ith the C hiefs of“

theOj ibway Indians , inhabiting the northern shore of Lake Superior f romB at ch ew an au n g Bay to Pigeon R iver ,and in land to the height of land b e

tween C anada an d t h e territories inthe occupation of the Hudson’s Bay

C ompany . For the sum of £ 2000 cu r

ren cy ,an d a n annual payment of £ 200

to be paid at Fort William and Michip icot en , the ch iefs surrendered alltheir right and title to the above territory w ith t h e exception of the following reserves made over to them forthe purposes of res idence and cultivation

,allowance being given u nder cer

tain reasonable restrictions that theyshall still hunt over the territory an dfish in the waters as heret ofore . The

THU NDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

number of Indians included in thistreaty was 1 240. The reservationsmade for their benefit were as follows :First : F or Joseph Peau de C hat andhis tribe ; the

“reserv e to commence

about two m iles from Fort William on

the right bank of t h e R iver K am in is

tiquia , thence westerly six miles parallel to the shores of the Lake , thencenortherly five mile s , thence easterlyto the right bank of the said river so

as .n ot to interfere with an y acquiredright s of the Honorable Hudson

’s BayC ompany .

S econd : Four miles square at GrosC ap for Po-t o-m i-n ai an d tribe ; an d

Third : Four m iles square on GullR iver, near Lake Superior,

_

on boths ides of the river, for the chief Mish-imuck-qua .

Our Iroquois being desirous of g oingto mass at the Mission on Sunday ,August 2n d , several of the party ac

companied them , an d w itnessed t h e

rather rare spectacle of a numerousan d most attentive Indian congregation engaged in C hristian worship .

The chapel is a very spacious an d

well-constructed building of wood ,with a sem i-circular ceiling paintedligh t blue . The walls were panelledto the height of about four feet

,an d

altogether the interior arrangementsan d decorations exceeded ou r antici

pa-tions an d everywhere showed the

in du s tr1ou s hand or intelligent d irection of the R ev . M . C hone . The In

dians forming the regular congregation were arranged in the most orderly manner ; t h e ‘

lef t side of th e chapelbein g appropr iated to the m en an d

boys, the right to the women an d girls .

The boys an d girls were placed in

front of their seniors . The m en wereprovided with forms , the wom en sat

upon the floor . The utmost decorumprevailed throughout the service

,

’

an d

the chanting of both men an d womenwas excellent ; that of the squaws b ein g remarkably low an d sweet ; 'F ewof t h e .male portion of the congregation took their eyes f rom the priestor their books during the service .

The squaws drew their shawls or blankets over the head and showed theutmost attention . The C ure delivereda l ong ' sermon in the Oj ibway lan

guage with much energy , an d seem ingly with t h e greatest fluency . Afterthe ordinary serv ice of the day wasover, being before requested by on e

of ou r party, he delivered an admirable sermon in French . H is style , language , an d manner, were of a .verysuperior order, an d the drift of hiswords seemed to go far in shadow ingf o r t h the philanthrop ic impulse swhich sustained him in his solitarywork of love , so remote from society, comfort , and civilization .

In the aftern oon I visited the mouthof C urrent R iver , six m iles from FortWilliam . The river reaches the Lakeby a succession of slop ing falls overan argillaceous rock

,which in the ag

g reg at e exceed forty feet in heightwithin half a mile from the lake . Thecommon chive was found occupying inabundance the cracks an d fissures of

the shale on the banks of the river .

I v is ited during the day the gardenof the fort ; its area is a bout 1 374 acres .

The shallots were small , but the potatoes looked well , being at t h e time inflower

,an d Mr . M cIn t y re thinks that

varieties m ay be found which willripen well near th e fort .

,

Tomatoesdo n ot ripen here ; turnip s an d cabbages are very liable to be destroy-edby the cut-worm or grub ; the currantbushes procured f rom the forest flourish admirably, an d produce a verylarge berry ; the red currant was justbeginning to ripen . This part of thecount ry appears to abound in currants , raspberries , strawberries an d

gooseberries ; they were seen growingin the woods in every direction , wheredirect light penetrated . A patch ofcat s in the garden showed a m ost remarkable development of stalk an d

leaf,an d the ears were beginning t o

show themse lves . The soil of the gard en was brought from t h e foot of theKakabeka Falls in the time of theNorth West C ompany’s glory .

‘

The average period when the K am

in ist iqu ia freezes , is from th e third tothe fif teenth cf November, an d it b ecomes free f rom ice between the twen c

t ieth an d twenty-third April . The year1 85 7 proved an exception in many re

spect s ; the ice did not pass ou t of

the river until the thirteenth of May,an d on the first of August the day ofmy vis it , the waters of t h e river were

1 8 THUNDE R ‘ BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY“

higher than they had ever been knownbefore at that season of the year .

Indian corn w ill n ot succeed in thissettlement

,early and late frost cu t

ting it off . Frost occurs here'

underthe influence of the cold expanse of

Lake S uperior , until the en d'

of June ,an d begins again towards the en d of

August . A few m ile s further up t n e

river,west of M cK ay

’

s Mountain , t h e

late an d early are of rare occurrence ,an d it was stated that Indian cornwould ripen on the flanks of M cK ay

’

s

Mountain .

All kinds of small grain succeedswell at the Mission

,an d the reason

why they have not b een more largelycultivated is owing to the want of am il l for the purpose of convertingthem into flour or meal . Near thelake , at Fort William for instance

,

oats do not always ripen ; t h e cold airfrom the lake , whos e surface , thirtyan d fifty mi les from land

,showed a

temperature of 39° at the close of

the hottest month of th e year, is suff icient to prevent many kinds of v eg e

tables from acquiring mat uri ty,which

succeed adm irably four or'fi v e m iles

up the river.Fragments of limestone have be enprocured in the neighborhood

,but the

locality could n ot be pointed ou t byan y of its inhabitants . The ruins of alime kiln , used by the North WestC ompany , have been discovered , an d

it is very probable that t h e limestonewas ob tain ed

'

from crystalline layers,

the existence of which has been establ ish ed over wide areas in ThunderBay, by S ir William Logan

, an d aren ot iced b y him as being of a

“reddishwhite color an d very compact, someof which would yield good materialfor burning .

”These beds of impure

l im eston e / are mentioned by Mr . Murray (geo logical survey of C anada , for1 846-7 ) as occurring in the lower portions of the formation occupying thisvalley .

It'is worthy of notice that su b st an

tial records of far more extensive sett lem en t s than now exist

,showing a

much higher degree of civilizationand improvement , are found at or nearth e various posts along this route

, an dparticularly at Fort William .

Most of'

these remains of former'

in

dust ry and art , date from the time

when the North West C ompany occu

p ied the country , an d there is reasonto believe that much valuable know ledge respecting the resources of par

t icu lar localities has been forgotten ,or is hidden . in ' the m em ories ‘of thosewho may n ot have t h e opportunityto make it known .

Mr . Keating mentions the ruins ofthe ol d Fort de M euron , erected byLord S elkirk . He was also shown th eremains of a w inter road opened bythat enterprising nobleman , fromthe K am in is t iqu ia to the Grand Por

tage on the Pigeon R iver,about thirty

six m iles distant . The remains of aroad to White Fish Lake i s also stillto be seen , an d indeed it form s a w inter route for half-bre eds an d Indiansat the present day between t h e lakeson the Pigeon R iver, and th e valleyof the K am in is t iqu ia . .The C anadiangovernment have recently laid ou t t h e

valley of the K am in ist iqu ia be low theKakabeka Falls into two township s ,names respectively Paipoon g e andNeeb in g .

On t h e Third of August we preparedfor ou r immediate departure , andwere all ready

,w ith the exception of

the Iroquois Indians , by 10 a . m . Thedelay w ith them arose from an indisposition t o separate an d be associatedin different canoes with t h e Oj ibwayswe were obliged to hire ; by noon ,however , an arrangement was made , itbeing determ ined that on e brigade ofthree canoes should proceed at once ,the other follow on the morrow . Justbefore starting a large body of h eathen Indians , from the camp on t h e op

pos ite s ide of the river, game over ina number of small canoes and com

m en ced a dance outside of the p ickets.of the fort . They were painted andfeathered in various way s ,

_

an d fur

n ish ed an adm irable subject for ou r

artists . Having danced on the outside

of the fort for some minutes , they en

tered and arranged t hemselves in asem i-circle in the quadrangle . The

m ed icin e~ m an and his assistant , gaudily

' painted and decked with eagles ’feathers

,sat on the ground b eating a

drum,and near to them squatted some

half dozen squaws , with a few children . About sixty men and boys , headed by the chief, painted and featheredsim ilar to the medicine man , danced

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20 .TIHINDE R BAY " HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

Assuming the h eight of Kakab eka .to

b e 1 19 . fee t, th e summ it w il l b e 1 7 5

feet above Lake Superior. Th is resu ltincludes th e rapids at th e foot of th efalls . Th e level s were taken along th eportage path , and if t h e rapid s be dedu cted , th e true h eig ht of Kakab ekaprobably does n ot exceed 105 -feet . .

The S cenery of the .Gran d F al ls . is

extremely beautifu l Th e river pre

eipit'

at es its yellowi sh-brown Waterover

'

a sharp led g e into a narrow an d

profound .gorge. Th e plateau ab ove

t h e p ortage cl ifi ,an d nearly on a level

With th e summit of th e falls , i s éov ;ered .With a profusion of b lu eb erries ,s trawberries , raspberries , p igeon ch f r

ry , and variou s flowering plant s ,among wh ich th e b luebell was mos tconsp icuous . On the left s ide of th e

falls at. 1oos e talu s is covered w ith w ildm in t an d g rasse s Which grow luxuris

ently under th e spray . Beautifu l rain

b ows of_

_v er

‘

y inten se colour are con

t in ual ly projected on this talu s , whenth e pos ition of th e sun and the clearn ess of th e sky are favorable . Num er

ou s sma ll springs trickle down a per;

pend icu lar cl ifi of about 1 2 feet“in al

t it ude at t h e ,base of the talus , wh osecoolnes s an d cl earness, . com

_

pared withth e warm, coloured waters of theriver, m ake th em a deliciou s b everage,

t h ea d ifference" b etween the tem ps a

ture of th e sprin gs and river be n gab ou t Th e righ t

'

s ide"

of th escl iff

at th e f alls is perpendicu lar for a

h eight o f . m ore th an 100 feet, an d e x

poses t h e s tratification w ith perfect

fi delity . Th e-

pecu liar rounded . form s

into ,wh ich t h e rock d ivides it self ,

n ot iced b y Mr. Murray , we re well

Th e alluvial valley of th e riverfrom ab ou t th ree m iles b elow themountain portage to Fort Will iamvaries in breadth from a few h undredyards to on e m ile ; t he b readth occu

p ied by land of a quality wh ich m igh tfi t it fer agricu ltural purposes exten dsto near t h e su m m it of th e f lank of a

low table land , which m arks t h e true

lim it of t h e rive r valmy , an d the av e

rage'

th m ay b e dou b le

that of s tri ct l al l uvial port ion .

Th e low tab le‘

land is th inly woodedwith small p ine , a n d th e soil is poor

and dry ; th e alluvial valley su stainselm , aspen, b alsam , pop lar, ash , b u t

,ternut , and a very luxurian t

'

profu sion

Of g rasses , vetch es , an d clim b ingplant ; among which

“

t h e w ild h op ,

honeysu ckle, an d convolvu lu s , are

the most con sp icuou s Th e rear p ore

tion of the valley,with an admixtu re

of the trees ju st nam ed , containsbirch , balsam-spru ce,

'

wh ite and b lackspruce, a n d s ome heavy aspens . Th e

underbru sh embraces hazeln u t, ch er

ries of two varietie s, etc.

Occas ionally th e flanks of t h e low

t able land approach th e riv er, ,

con r

tract the valley, and g ive an un fav oun ,

able aspect to th e country . Th is oc

cu rs near the Dech arges des Paresseux, and at most of th e h eavier rap?

ids, Th e area available for ag ricul

tural purposes below th e Grand F al ls ,probably exceeds twen ty th ousand

acres , b ut if th e f lanks of McK ay’

s

M ountain b e included_

ih th e es tim ate,a large addition may w ith proprietyb e assum ed .

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The Thunder Bay H istorical

Society

een n u n a

Papers of 1924

EhunhrrmayHisinfiral Swarm

OFF ICERS 192 3 24 :

Honorary Presidents

Honorary Patron and Patro-nessPresident

Vice P residentSecretary ~Treasurer

COMMITTEECaptain McC anneil Mrs.G“

. A . Graham M rs. J . M . Sherk

Mr. C‘

. W . Jarv is MajorW. J . Hamilton Mr. F C . Perry

Mr. Alex . McNaughton

AUDITORS

Mrs. C . W . Jarvis Miss Pamphylon

'

Honorab le Sir George 15 .

- F oster

Mr. Peter McK ellar, F . R . G . 5 .

Mr. and Mrs. N . M . W . J . Mackenz ieK ing

Mrsf PeterMcK ellar

Miss M . J . L. Black

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THU NDE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY

cretary4Treasurer

’

s ReportM I S S M . J . L . B LA C K .

To the President an d Memb ers :Ladies an d Gentlemen :

-I have the honor to present t h e following report as secretary of ou r soci

ety,tor the year 1 923-24 .

We have a paid-u p ' membership oftwenty, all of whom attend the meetings most regularly .

During the year t here have b eenfour meetings . On N ov . 1 5 we metat the home of M r. an d M rs . John

King ,when a paper by Mr . J . A . Mc

C omber was read ; on Feb . 1 5 we m e t

in the library, an d h ad'

pa-pers by Mr .

J . Mackay Hunt ; April 1 5 w e met att h e home of Mr . and Mrs . C . W . Jar

v is ,when w as read a

“sketch ~ oi Mr .

A . L . Rus sell , an d excerpts from th e

early file s of t h e n ewspapers ; on July1 1

,we were th e guests of Mr . an d Mrs .

Peter M cK el lar, when we met Mr . L .

J . Burpee .

The society’

s activities have n ot

been confined to the above meetings ,for through the efforts of the president

,M r. King

,the plot in which is

the Huds on Bay 'lmem orial was put in

good cond ition ; an d t h e care oi'

ithanded over to the Parks Board . N e

gotiations are als o under way w iththe C anadian National Parks C ommis ~

s ion -for the erection of .a mem orial inth e H eath S treet Park , to com m emorate the turn-in g 'oi t h e Grank TrunkPacific sod , an d the movement of thefirst grain .

It‘

is wi th great s orrow that we haveto record the l oss of thre e of ou r

members,Mrs . B ernard R oss

.

MajorHami lt on , and Mr . Fred Fregeau . Itwas always a delight to talk to M rs .

R oss , an d l isten to her stories of earlydays in th e west . Mr . .

Fregeau was al

ways ah interested and active member, whi le ’

in Maj or Hamilton we lo ston e who had been on ou r executivesince our org anization .

We have received a number of re

ports in exchange , an d also a se t ofvaluable photographs of the earlyboats the latter being given by C aptain M cC an n el l .

All of which is respectfully subm it te d

,

M . J . L . B LAC K ,

S ecret ary .

00 0

Rece ipt s

0 0 0 00

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

O O O O O O O O O O O O O OO

Oct . 1 , 1 924 —Total R eceipts

D is b u rsem eht s

C anadian H istorical Fee

Printing

Minute Book

Wreath

Oct . 1 , 1 924—B a1. in Bank 7 8 30

Oct . 1 , 1 923

Balance in BankGovernment grantMembership Fees

Miss C . Merrick"

Mr . an d Mrs . John KingMr . an d Mrs . M cK e l lar (2 yrs )C apt . M cC annel lMrs . SherkMiss E rma v on BockstaeleMiss R obinMiss BlackF . C . Pe rry (2 years )M rs , Miss an d Mr . C oppA . J . M cC om b er

Major an d‘

Mrs . Ham u ton

(2 -years )Mrs . F . A . S ibbald (2 years )J . J . O

’

C on n or years )Mis s P am ph y lon (2 years )

1 .00

1 .00

2 .00

THUND E R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY

A s -R ecord ed i n t h e P r in ce A r t h u r’

s Lan d in g S en t i n e l

The S ent inel , Prince Arthur’

s Landing ,Aug . 3 , 1 876.

THE TOiWN PLOT“

On Wednes day we Spent a fewhours at the Town Plot , an d therenoticed considerable change since ourprevious visit . Qui te a clearing hasbeen

_made , an d we found a number ofm en busy on Lot 44

,south of Gore

stree t , removing stumps to clear theground for t h e

'

Rou n d H ous e . Mr . I sbes-ter , the contrac tor has the shoperected

,an d is al l in readiness to go

on with the w ork . Th e material isto be s tone taken from our ThunderBay quarries , t h e circumference is tob e 6-00

"

feet , having ten s talls , heightto be 16 feet

,with . of course , rai sed

roof ; t h e smoke stacks are to be madeof sheet iron , b y French an d Kennedyof this place . We should judge the

whole work wil l be a subs tantial job ,part icularly as full confidence is hadin the parties having the w ork in hand .

The location is at the Town Plot terminus oi “the Prince Arthur ail d K am

in is t iqu ia R ailroad .

We found Mr . John Sullivan in

charge of a gang of. m en engaged inlaying

“the iron for the track

,the dis

tance already reached being aboutthree m iles . Unless an en g in e soonarrives as expected the lorrie an d

hors epower will be found slow work asdistance is gained . Large quantities

of the rails are p iled up, an d more con

stan t ly arriving .

The only hotel open at the TownPlot is the Orillia H ouse ,

by Mr . O’

C On

n or, who evidently is doing a goodbusiness , while buildings for ot herpurposes are talked about

‘

includingon e for a store by Messrs . S tree t , of

this place , wh o think of opening abranch store : H owever, as far as we'

could learn , the“town l ots . are n ot

going off like h ot cakes , ow ing to theprices that are being asked .

“Around the government dock

,wh ere

th e p ropeller, Lake_

E rie was unloading iron , there appeared to '

be con

0!

sid erab le stir . The whole place has abusiness l ook . Not the least attractivespot is Mr . Walford

’

s garden,fully

demonstrating what energy an d properattention -can d o. It is evident thatthe soil is adap ted to gardening purposes ,

'

an d'

by an other sea son more in

terest will be shown ln that direction .

Passing homeward , we found“Mr .

H enders on’

s mammoth building con

v -erted into a boarding house, an d the .

F irst H otel”is closed

,having been

purchased by the government,to keep

the reserve along the river . Mr .

H azelwood ’

s fi n e house attracts theattention of . a11 passers-b y , his familyhaving recently arrived

,

the premi sesare n ow occup ied .

“Mr .

'H . has beenrecently ill , but his numerous friendswill be p leased -to learn that theclimate , etc .

, has favorable influence

an d he is getting better .

Th e K am in ist iqu ia H ote l , Messrs. In

galls an d K n app'

in , Proprietors , eastof the Town P lot . i s doing a g ood summer business“, a number of touristsstopping '

there at present ; certa inlyth e locality is a qui et '

retreat for a.

season an d accommodations are sat isfactory .

Nearly opposite the hotel is the n ew

store n ow being finished b y theMess -rs . M cK el lar

,for Mr . McLaren ,

lately arrived from Ontonagon, an d

who proposes Opening at an ea1 ly date .

M 1 > Tall is n ow painting the store inthe highest style of the art .

Accompanied by J . L . Baker, of t h eNorthern R ailway

,.Toront'o

,Mr . M an

ly , of Toron to C ollegiate Institut e an d

Mr . C . Baker , of University C ollege ,Toronto , who were up by the FrancisSmith on a pleasure excursion

, an d

spent Wednesday along the river, wewere shown over the premises at

Fort William by the worthy m anager,

John M cIn tyre . Recently, a divisi onh as taken p lace in the stock of goods ,the clothing

"

and light goods now oc

cupy ing a store near the entrance tothe old -

on e to the left . The “larges tone building , erected eighty -fi v e

6 THUNDER BAY HISTOR ICAL S OC IE TY

years ago, is used for storag e pu r- j

poses . The neatness , regularity , an d“

above all,the immense stock of fi rs t

class goods aston ished even ou r Tor

on t-o fri ends . While viewing the curios it ies

.

’

w e saw '

an old flint—lock musket , of Queen Bess make , which “.would hardly answer for Black H ill sservice a t pres ent . The history oi

-theearly days of Fort William have h istorical events ,of interest that wou ldbe

“

both amusing an d instruc tive ifproperly placed before the public .

_ (S entinel,S ep t . 7 ,TOWN PLOT AND V IC lN ITY

Tuesday afternoon w e visi t ed t h e

Town Plot . A month had made somechange ; the government dock an d

other places in the vicinity presen tedlarge p iles of railroad iron . . Th e

“As ia

was at t h e / d ock unloading . Wh i le

there the train arrived an d we n oticedMr . H . R yan upon the cars .

“imme

d iately upon arrival a force of m en

were put to work ,to load up again

four cars , that the powerful enginemoves up the steep grade with easefrom t h e wharf . We underst and thatMessrs : Pe rcell an d Ryan have laidover 1 1 m ile s of tracks , an d keepdaily progress ing .

We found m en busy unloading fromthe b oat e ons tru ct ion engine , number2 , together w ith six p latform cars .

This engine , like the on e n ow in u se ,

is p owerful , an d when on ce ready w illbe

_a great acquisition to the working

of the road . E xtending . eastwardfrom t h e dock , along the edge of _ theriver for a few hundred yards

,the

ground - is preparing for the ties.

in

order to lay track for more wharfageaccomm odation . C ertainly th ere i s agreat need for m ore dump ing room .

The next object of in terest w e vis ited was the Round H ouse . This

,

islocated a few h undred yards back fromt he front; an d a t the term inus of th eP . A . L . K . railway . we found. anumber of masons an d laborers at

'

w ork . The foundation is nearly com

p leted and when built there w ill b e

ten stalls'

for as many iron horses ;A large tank is being excavated andcurb ed in the round house, for the

supply of water to the engines ; Some

(S entinel , April 1 2 ,

TOWN PLOT AND VIC INITY .

curious specimens of petrified woodhave been taken ou t of the well

,as

shown us by Mr . Young, in charge of

the t ank sinking. Mr . I sb es ter himselfis a b s ent

,

-but is ably repre sented ’

b yMr . Alex . Fraser . Quite a large quantity of stone is up on the ground , de :livered by Mr . M cDou g al l , w ho hashis qu arry at the foot of Thunder Bay .

S ince our previous vis it,Mr . C onley

has erected a h ou se on Brown S treet ,an d Mr . Finly is putting up a dwellingan d bakery to the. rear . Mr . A .

,S tev

ens on was busy b u i ldin g'

a'

s id ewalk

along said street . It is true : that amonth has - n ot _mad e an y ext raord in

ary c h a n g e ’

in the ap pearanceof the p lace , but t h e cause a ssignedis asking too much for t h e‘ lots in market , etc . H oweve r, we found Mr . O

’

C onnor , M r. W . W . Ireland an d othersal l confident of a prosperous locality .

U pon'

ou r re turn we d ropped intothe K am in is t iqu ia Hote1

,Messrs

.In

gall an d Knappen,proprietors . Here

we found s ome excursionists . Quite anumber of v is it b rs to ou r shores thepresent seas on have s ojourned '

for'

a

time at the h ou se,an d th e landlord

an d landlady have w on golden op inions . Among’

t h ese there on Tuesday.were Mr . and Mrs . Wild of Jersey C ity ,

N .J . ,

'

an d Mr . an d Mrs . S . M . Thomasoi - Brooklyn

, Ontario

Pass ing to the n ew store almost oppos ite , we found Mr . M cLaren superintend

‘

ing the opening of a n ew stockof goods . We must Say his dry g oods .ready made clothing , boots an d sh oes ,

groceries , confectionaries , hardware ,etc .

, l ooked fresh and were tastefullyarranged in his new s tore , recentlypainted an d grained in Mr . T-all’s beststyle of the art .

Tuesday aftern oon We h and led the“ribbons to Vig ars

’

gay team , and hada pleasan t drive to t h e Town Plot ,wh ere we

'

foun d visib le S igns of p rogress. Mr . O

’

C on n or of’

t h e Orillia

H ouse showed us aroun d . H e i s‘

b us y

building a new hotel on the“corn er

of Railroad an d Brown stree ts . We

found m en engaged completing th e200

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8 THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL S OC IE TY

(Daily S entinel , Feb . 18, 1 888 )

Ju dging from the trouble ou r neighbors of “Fort William Town Plot” areexperiencing in nam ing ,

their amb itious burg , there is som e thing in a. nameafter al l . .With a post office originallychristened Fort William , the buildingoi the North Shore line of the C . P .

R . and the large elevator near the oldfort ,

_

cam e the e stablishment of a postoffice near t h e latter place , an d som eh ow or other the p eopl e to be aecomm odated succeeded

_

ih‘

capturing _th e

name Fort William ,

” rendering i t

necessary for_t h .ose -of the

“P lot , a s

it was familiarly “known ,to select an

other name for their office . Neeb in gwas “chosen,

_

a n d after -a while t h e "

de

partni en t recog n ized an d adopted t h e

cognomen . But that did n ot satisfysome of the residents of the future

C h icago of the Dominion , and againthere was a chri sten ing

,

“Fort WilliamWest” being selected . Another yearhas rolled around an d at the reques tof the C . P . R . off icials , who state th eywish to avoid confus ion , there is to b eanother change , a tran sposition of

words,

_

making the n ew official stand ,

read West Fort William ; This lastch ristening may a v o i d confusionamong the C . P . R . employees , but toth e ou tside r it must b e productive ofgreat uncertainty as to h ow to addressletters to corres p

-on den t s

,as i t w ill

take t ime to become accustomed_

to th e

change . .Again , it may mean , t hat FortWilliam i s to,

be the t own on\

t h e -K am

in ist iqu ia , and West Fort William i s

(Weekly S entinel , July 1 9 ,

t o become little more th an -a way s ta

tion as t h e company,i s making all the

improvements at Fort William .

The S entinel is thus particular in

giving to the world the trials of apost master , an d t h e various aliasesto his office : Fort William al i as Neeb ~

in g ; alias Fort W illiam West , aliasWest Fort William

,so that confusion

may be less confounded .

_

LOC AL C HU R C H HISTORY,

OL IVE R . Th e_

fi rst step towardsestablishing the church in this township was the -purchase of land on the4t h l-in e

, ,

-ou which“was Subsequently

ere cted S t . James ’ C hurch . This wasin 1 886. In July of the same year

,a

block o f six acres was“purchased fromJoh n Baxendale

, as a s ite'

for a. p ar

son ag e a n d grounds . The purchasemoney amounted ~

.to of whichwere received from Mr . an d

Mrs . G . T . Marks,of Port Arthur . .Th e

R ev . .M . C . K irb y ,. 1at e1y in Fort Wi l

l iam , is _t h e

' present mis sionary in

Oliver , an d he will take immediatesteps , with t h e

.

B-ish-op ’s sanction to

erect a parsonag e .

WE ST FORT“WILL IAM—In

“

Augu s t , 1 886,

an acre of'

land'w as securedin this place for’ a church . It isthe north side

,

of Victor S treet , an d

consists of lots 3 8 an d 40. On e halfof "

t h e lat t er was a"

free,g if t f rom Mr .

Davidson, an d others were purchasedfrom Mr . Harvey .

'WVork is under t h e

charge of Rev . E . J . Harper .

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY

M em ories of Fort Wil l iamB y J . M C K AY HUNT

The road from Prince Arthur’s Landin g ,

n ow Port Arthur , was built bytwo gangs of m en

,on e under the late

James C onmee.

M .P .,an d on e under

Thomas Woodsid e , senior , t h e fatherof th e various Wood s id es of Port Arthur . The route was the same as n ow

followed f r o m S outh C umberlan dS treet , Port Arthur , along Bay to Al

goma , an d along to an d on lower S impson

,thence along what is n ow M eTav

i sh , ,to ' the K

'

am river , thence alongnear “D” elevator , on toGore street , to the present in t ersec

tion of Brown S treet . (I have n ot_the

date of the fore-going b ut I think thatit was 1 874 )In 1 884 the m u nic1pal ity of N eeb in gwas formed including the territory

n ow F ort Wfl l iam . The C“. P . R .

,s ee

in g it needed the wa ter front alongthe

‘

K am river , bargained w ith theNeeb in g C ouncil , to hew out the forest

.

an d grade what is n ow S impson stre etto Victoria avenue

,thence along Vic

tb ria to Synd icate , an d on to“D” ele

v at01 , an d paid the municipalitythree thousand dollars in cash in l e

turn for closing the l iver bank road ,

from M cTav ish to “D” elevator Du 1

in g this time James C onmee had a

shingle mill in t h e village of Meaford .

With the burning“of this mill

,he lost

everything he had,an d it is s aid .that

he remarked “I have nothing to losen ow , so I am going to make somemoney . He did it Splendidly . I

‘

always felt his remark was a good on e,

an d might well be adopted b y an yon e .

With reference to the municipal org an izat ion in the area ad jacen t

'

to theTwin C ities ; the first municipality wasS h u n iah , an d it was composed of thetownships of M cIn ty re ,

M cGreg or, an d

Welcome Islands ,an d Pie Island . The

townships o f Neeb in g , Paipoon g e,

Blake,

C rooks , an d Pardee , also N eebin g A dditional , some times cal led

‘

M c

Kellar ward of Neeb in g township , withIslands 1 an d 2 thrown in for goodmeasure . Surely some township municipal it y reaching twenty m iles or morenortheast of Port

\Arthur

, to eight or

ten miles west of the Pigeon R iverbridge on the Duluth highway! Thereason for this la rge municipality w as ,

tha t there was a village sprang up on

the s hore of Thunder Bay , immed ia tely after the landing of General Wol s

ley an d h is R ed R iver expedition in

the fall of 1 869 .

'A few years later,th e

.

Federal government decided to

b uild a rail an d wa ter route to S elkirkon the R ed R iver . Work on thisstarted j u s t opposite where the

Queen’

s H otel at Wes t fort n ow stands ,an d practically all m oney spent locallywas spent at Wes t fort . Thomas Markswas the moving sp irit in gettin g a

ferry boat to ru n between Port Arthuran d West F ort

'in ~ sum m er an d teamswith sle igh with robes an d blankets fowinter to give th e railroad construotion m en a chance to get a better

samp le of whisky an d other commod it ies than Wes t fort handled . Thisdid n ot fill the b ill , as the m en werevery dry when“ they got off at Westfort an d by the time they had a fewdrinks of Wes t fort R edeye , PortArthur w as usual ly

r forgotten . Ou r

friend Thomas Marks gathe red G .

_

O .

P . C la v et , L . U . Bonin,W . C . Dobie ,

an d a few others an d laid before thema plan '

to ask the federal governmentto extend t h e

,

rai lroad from .Wes t fort

to Prince Arthur’

s Landing . Mr . Markswas deputed to g o t o Ottawa

, on thism is sion . It failed . Shortly after hisarrival home , Mr . Marks

’ fertile brainworked: u p another plan“, namely ,

“Wewill offer '

to grade th e road bed and

put ties thereon if the governmen twould iron an d operate it .

”H is

friends sen t him back to Ottawa w iththis plan

_

an d it succe eded , as the govern m en t thought that if thes e people

‘

are so enthus iastic as to spend a largesum of their ow n money

,they ought

t o b e helped . The road bed began atBrown

'

street , following -the presentroadbed of the C . N . R . , into Port Arthur w ithin '

a few fee t of Arthurstreet . But alas , whe re are t h

monies to come from . We have n o

municipal organization . The provin

10 THUNDER BAY"

H ISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY

cin l government were selli n g thelands

“

of ‘Weig an d sv il le, S ill s farm ,

etc .,for 25 cent s per acre , s o . it w as

n eces sa l y to take in an enormous a reato sell b onds for $70,000.00

,to grade

an d put ties on this seven -miles of

road . H ence t h e'

t err-itory

'

in clud ed in

t h e original municipality of S h un iah .

They tried to take in Oliver townshipalso

,but even at that early date there

were some w is e acres in Oliver Suchas Ow en Dur-oss

,an d his

‘

son‘

s an d avery few others -who declined t o - b e

drawn into t h e ne t and'

to avo id it ,Oliver app lied for muni’cipal organization by itself in 78 or 79. In was

com ing from Montana . I was'

leavingPort Arthur on the S teamship “

Gam

pana, C apt . John M cNab b . Port Arthur

h ad n o way of finding when_the

’

trainwould arrive , So we sai led

Q

'

an d gettingou t perhaps seven m ile s

,saw the train

pulling in . Th e captain turned backan d docked , an d receiv ed

‘

a'

considerable num ber Qf passengers . I

'

rememb

'

e'

r some Women an d chi ldren whom Ih ad known at Owen S ound , an d I alsorecal l a few of th e Port Art hur '

.pe opleon that trip! There were J '

ohn S ill s ,senior ,

-‘

Jam ‘

es C onme e WilliamC larke , druggist, all since dead .

Th e debenture s spoken of weredivided at the d ivisions Of the originalmunicipality of Sh u n iah .

“

In the session of parliament

,early in 1 884 ,

PortArth ur was

“carved

'

ou t of M cIn tyre

a n d became an incorporated . townw ith Th om as M arks

‘

as the first mayor .

Their first meeting was in May , 1 884 .

At the tim e of the incorporation ofPort Arthur, Neeb in g municipality h ecame incorporated containing t h e

Township s of Neeb in g ,Neeb in g Addi

tiona l , Paipoon g e.

Blake , C rooks an d

Pardee, while S h u n iah had th e _

rem ain

der of M cIn tyre , M cGreg -or, the Piean d Welcome Islands .

William b ecame incorporated as "atown w ith the late John M cK el lar asmayor .

In 1 893 Fort '

Th e'

first C . P . R . boat -arrived about

May.

'

1 2 , 1 884 . This,

wast

t h e Algoma,with C aptainI

'

M -

ooren n command . Dur

in g this summer the Alberta had twoserious cd l l is ion s ,

an d went to Detroitdrydock . The

'

Magnet took the placeof t h e Alberta while away , the firsttrip , w ith

‘

C ap t . Peter M cNab b in

charge , t h e second trip,the s teamer

Spartan took the place of the A lbertawith C aptain Alexander M cLeod in

command . Th ese boa ts,the Magnet ,

an d S partan , were side wheelers ,an d

Wood burners , an d had to g o'

t o JohnM cLau rin

’

s dock for wood . Th e S partan on h er last trip down the river ransu rp1 1s 1n gl y fast . The late Archie Mc

Kellar was standing at the gate of theMcK el laI home near the river an d

seeing the Spartan remaining in on e

spot he hurried down,when 10, an d

behold , the Spartan was hard on aboutwhere the lower en d of the C old S torage Plant of Gordon Ironside

_Faresstands . Just as Mr . M cK el lar arriveda prominent citizen from Port Arthurwho seldom jcam e to Fort William , arrived ,

an d said to C apt . M cLeod : Youdid it

' pretty we l l . It'

was allegedthat the captain h ad been in f lu uen éedby some Port Art h u r '

peop le to ru n

the‘

boat aground to convince the C . P .

R . an d the governmen t that it wasuseless to make the river a reasonableharbor .

At t h e time of this soc alled S partanaccident

,I was the C ; P . R . policeman ,

an d was shortly ab oard th e S partan ,

which was pulled off by the C . P . , R .

layin g nearly a mile of track an d getting three locomotives hitched together

,an d to the anchor chain 01

the S partan ,while t h e S teamer Ocean ,

an d Tug Salty Jack were also pullingon her

,an d n ot a move did they g et

until all load at the front of the S part an had been transferred to the stern .

It surely was done well .

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12 THUNDE R BAY -H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY'

positi on . Th e . company had spen tlargely with the full knowledge of thegovernment

,whose leader more than

once told the President to go on ,an d

the company would never loose a copper with i t . They h ad to sell theirsteamer , the Re scue , at a g reat s acrifi ce . In the summer th e bush firesburnt down the ir buildings , an d leftscarcely a trace of waggon road , an d

in time t h e ice carried away the irp ier . S ome time afterwards a sett lement of ac counts wa s arrived at ‘

h ya subsequent g overnment , when alarge balance was admitted to be duethe Rescue , an d which would

_

be a

charge -o n“t h e right of w ay to be paid

for by an y com pany that would su c

ceed it ; Matters remained in'

t h is

state until“ public op inion compelled

the government”to take action when I n

1 868 ,- our present worthy member in

the Ontario legislature , was se lec t e dto take charge of the undertaking , an d

after -whom the route is n ow cal l ed .

He selected the same location for h isbase

,thereby c onfirming the judgm en t

of the R escue C ompany an d al l whowill take th e trouble t o look at t h eposition of Prince Arthur - on the mapw il l admit that

,i t must ultimately b e

a,large com m ercial centre , an d the

depot of th e vast mineral wealth ofthe Lake Sup erior region . The s iteof Prince Arthur for a city cannot b e

equalled in t h e Dominion , its gradualris e

"

from the water,its natural ter

races fro-m which you have t h e .

_

v iewof the noble b -ay an d magnificen tmountains cann ot be surpas sed .

(Daily Sentinel , J an . 16.

PORT ARTHUR

This important town was first calledThe S tation . In 1 870 when GeneralWoles ley came up t h e lakes w ithtroops on his way to Manitoba in theC hic-ora , C apt . M cLean . On board

(Port Arthur S en t in ed . Mar . 20, 1 888 )

PORT A-RTHUR ’S'

PROGRE S S

a ls o were Mr .

‘

Tom Marks, th e exten

s ive merchant of Port Arthur and M r.

William Murdock ,

'who with his s taffwere about to define the line of thepre sent C . P p R . Passengers an d go odswere then lightered ashore

,th ere b e

in g n o docks . U pon leaving thesteamer , General Woles ley asked Mr .

Marks the name of the place,and on

being told , said ,“We w ill call it

Prince Arthur’

s Landing .

”

The nam etoOk readily among the 200 in h ab i

tants,an d held till 1 874 ,

wh en_ themunic ipality of S h u n iah was created

an d officially fixed the name,which

so remained till '

1883 . Th en , th e C . P .

R . being under way , t h e name was

changed by t h eir_w ish to

'

Port Arthur,

supp osed to be partly as a complimen tt o Prince Arthur ,

’

an d as a companiont o Port Moody , the Pacific; t erm inus .

The name of the post office was alsochanged , an d in May 1 884 , when thetown was incorporated

,the name was

finally an d formally ad opted .

'

Ih 1 85 6, R obert M cVicar, crownlands agent , the firs t wh ite settler ,built t h e

'

fi rs t house near the presentcorner of Arthu r an d C umberland .

then covered w ith heavy timber .

Firs t trading post was founded byMessrs . Marks Bros .

Town w as surv eyed in 1 872 , originaltown containing

.

only 5 34 acres .

1 87 1 population doubled in

1 872 .

- Business houses numbered 90.

In May , 1 883 , the C . P . R . c hangedthe name

_to Port Arthur . In th atyear , the port returns gave 8 5 8 v es

sels , inward s of .half a m illion tonswith 293 thousand tons freight .1 886 local e xports amounted t o over

in fish,fur silver

,and gold

ore . concentrates , building stone , etc .

THUNDER BAY H ISTORIC AL SOC IE TY

Som e Early .H istory of ThunderBay an d D i strict

By A .1. M cc OM BER

The history of C anada teems withstories of adventure an d romance .

Twen ty wars an d rebellions , in itsshort life provide ample material fora Chapter that ranks second to nonein the story of t h e nation s . How

C anada came t o be Opened up tO '

C iVil

izat ion , wh at the mot ives were which '

iimpelled first the F rench an d thenthe E ngl i sh , to Spend their blood and

t : ea'

Sure i n b attling for it, what lured rew the brave explorers ever furtherv estward , provide a fascinating studyfer those wh o love to read a s t l rl 1 11 g

tale of adv enture an d courage .

We w h o reside at the head of LakeS u periOI , are prone to imagine thatthis locality p layed n o part in thissp lendid drama, an d that ou r localh is tory dates back but a few yeal s .

Never was . there a m ore m i stakenidea . True

,that history is n ot old ,

compared with that of the nations of

t h e Old World , b u t yet it is n ot a“Story

of yesterday . F or years the head OfLake Superior was the gatewaythrough which streamed the d iS C OV-el

e ; , the m is sionary, the advent urer an dthe trade r, each seeking in his own

way an d for‘

his ow n pu rpos e, th e great

an d mysterious Northwest .When I say that our l ocal history is

n ot old ,I

_

refer to what I m ight callt he history of the French and E n g .

li sh,

regimes . But lon g before these ,an d long even b efore C olumbus sailed.on

'

his v oyage of dis covery; the LakeS uperior region h ad b een ,

the dwellin gp lace of a people , of wh om we knowlittle indeed , but whose claims t o acertain amount of civi lizati on can notb e denied We only know that theyexis ted because they h ave left recordsof their exist ence behin d them—n ot

written record s it is . true—b u t recordsnevertheles s wh ich have lasted evento Our own days. The Mound Builders , So far as we know, were. the: firs tin h ab itan t s of these shores , an d somes cientists have declared that at leasta. thousand years. have e lapsed . , ince

.

13

they first vis ited Lake Superior. E venthe Indians have n o record of th eirexistence . They le ft their mounds inthe country south of th e Great Lakes ,an d ev en along Ra iny R iver

,as in u t e

testimonials of a lost r'

ace .

These people knew th e use of

metals , an d t h e art of tempering cop

pei , an d their workings have beenfound on Isle R oyale , that part of th eUnited S tates which , on a clear d ay ,

you can See from.

the shores of Thunder Bay . There

,generati ons before

the civilization of E urope knew thatthere was such a place as th e American C ont in ent, they labored extractingcopper from the earth an d fashioningit into rude weapons , an d th ere theyleft their tools when for some m y sterions reas on they dis appeared frOmthe face of the earth . Whether theycarried off b y S ome ep idemic, Whe therth ey were slaughtered by som e morevigorou s peop le , we know n ot , but wedo -know that they once inhabited thisregion - t h at

'

t h ey la’bored an d d isap

neare’

d .

‘

Th e h istory of which I . w ish to

speak , more modernhistorycome about th at Fort Will iam was selected as a trad ing pos t ; whOwas th efirSt white m an to lOok u pon K aka

heka Falls ; what . name did t he K am

in is t iquia R ive r bear besides th e on e

we know so well ? These; an d s imilarquestions

,should be of int erest to us,

n ot only because We live here , butbecause the ans ers to these questions are an indication , as in th e case“of Other l ocalities , that h ere thetrader and th e Indian of the past , inth e uncanny way in which they Seemedable to detect such things, Saw th at

‘

nature had at this point p lann ed anadvantageous spot where east andWest could meet and do busines s . Ifwe look at a map

,and n ote the towns

an d cities Scattered i’

t h rou g h ou t C an

ada a n d the U nited S tates, we arestruck at on ce b y t h e fact

‘

tha t in al

14 THUNDE R BAY HISTORICAL S OC IETY

most every ‘

instance“‘

Where t h e"

d is“

coverer and the trader s elected a site

and prosperous city has risen . Qu ebec , Montreal (the old Mont Royal ) ,Detroit

, Sault S te . Marie , Duluth , S t .

Paul,S t . Louis are a few of the names

which occur to one’

s mind -

at onc e .

’

It is a'

happy augury, therefore, thatt h e

‘

m an wh o‘

fi rs t established a poston the K am in is t iqu ia R iver , wa s on e

of those adventurous sp irits whosought to divert t h e fur trade . of t h e

northwest to this spot , an d wh o wasb -old enough to enter into active com

petition w ith th e Huds on’

s. B ay ;_

C om

an y , that hoary an d venerab le cor

porat ion , whose initials “H . B . C,were s ometimes said to mean -Here

Before C hrist .”

The seventeenth century .was a pe

riod Of intense activity for those daring sp irits who were bent upon exp lorin g an d opening u p n ew lands of

trade and commerce . The French an d

t h e E n g l ish’

were equally zealous .

May 2nd , 1 670, the Hudson’s Bay C om :

pany was brought' into existence, its

full name being The Governor ,

an d

C ompany of Gentlemen Adventurers ofE nglan d trad lin g into Hudson

’

s Bay .

”

Its c harterswas is sued -b y C h arle s II ,

and i t may be of i n teres t to qu ote someof

’

i ts p rovis ions ; C harles II beingdesirou s to promote all

,endeavors

tending to the pub l ic good of our peo

to'

en cou rag e”

. t h e un dertak

in g ,granted to _

b is dear entirely b e

lov ed c ou s in , Pr ince ,Rupert” an d his

assoc iates“

,and their successors

,the

s ole trad e . and commerce of all theseseas

,straits, bays , rivers , lakes creeks

and sounds , in w hatsoever latitudethey shall be

,that lie w ithin the eu

t rance of t h e s traits commonly cal ledHudson

’s straits , together with all thelands and territories upon t h e

'

cou n f

tries, coasts , an d confines of the seas ,bays , rivers , creeks and s ounds aforesaid , that are n ot already actuallypos ses sed by Or granted to an y of ou r

subj ects,or possessed b y the subjects

of any other C hristian Prince or S tateand that the land be from

henceforth reckoned an d reputed as

on e of_

ou r p lantations or colonies inAmerica called

‘

R upert’s Land .

’

As far back as 1 610-1 1 Hud son hadm ade a voyage to Hudson

’

s Bay , givingE ngland a title by virtue of discovery .

Other v oyages were th ose of Button.

in 161 2-1 3 , By lot an d Baff in in 1616,

for a fort or trading-

_

post, there a large Foxe_

in 4 163 1 , an d Jam es in 1631 -2 . In

1668 Gillam erected Fort S t . C harles1

(Rupert) , for ”

Prince Rupert an d his”

associates .

“Fort N elson w asx fou n d ed

in 1682 by th e Hudson’s Bay C ompany ,

'

an dr at'

t h e‘

sam e t im e'

R ad i‘

ss‘

on reprei

senting the French . C ompagn i e’

du

Nord f es'

tab l ish e d Fort Bourbon in thevicin ity .

'

_

In the spring follow ing R adiss on seized

“Fort Nelson , but in 1684 ,

having re-entered . the service of theHudson

’

s Bay C ompany, h e retook itfor the E ng l ish .

It was about this time that Du Lhut,th e founder of Fort William

,appeared

upon the scene .

_ The S ieu re Dan ielGray solon

'

E u Lhut’ was born ‘

at S t .

Germaine-eu -Laye , _

in'France , about

1640; H e first served in ; the Pre chArmy ,

b e com ing a Lieutenant i n 165 7 ,

an d a gendarme of th eKing ’s Guardsin i 664s ~ H e also took part in

"

thecampa ign in Flanders , an d was p resen t at the b at t le

'

of S en ef in 1 674 .

During that year he came to C anada ,whether he had been pre ceded b y severa1

,m em b ers of his fam ily, among s t

them his cousins the Ton ty s .

.

At firsthe settled in Montreal

,but m

he left for the West,accompanied by

his'

brother La Toure tte an d six soldiers . In 1679 he took possession of

the S ioux country in the name of t h eKing of France , and it was shortly

_

'

ai

ter this that . h e established h is maintrading pos t at Fort William , that is ,about 243 years ago . This Fort h enamed C am an ist ig oyan .

Directed there n o doubt by th e In

dians, we can imagine Du Lhut,eager

to land after his p erilous voyag earound the north short of Lake Superifor, s lowly entering the mouth of th e

river . The scene which met his eyesthen was far different from that Whichwe gaze upon today . The s hores werewooded down to the very marg in ofthe water. No giant elevators , n o

m onster ve ssel-s , n'

o busy town,greet

ed'

his eyes . The silence of the,

u n ~

broken forest brooded over . all . -MountM cK ay looked d-Own on him as . it n ow

looks down on us , a mighty sentinelthat seemed to guard the secrets of

the , Wes t . A beautiful river Open edup before him , its gentle w ater lapp ing the side-s of his canoe , but whenceit came he knew

_- not , perhaps from

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1s THUNDER B.AY HISTORIC AL SOC IETY

h ave b een los t However,there is a

plan . ih existence that he designed for

a chain of posts to b e erected for th epurpos e of keep ing t h e _

lake routeclear of savages an d thu s facilitatingcommun icat i on between C anada an d

th e we: tern and south ern parts of th econtin ent (1683 This plan was

afterwards publish ed . In t h e librarycf C ongress at Washington may also

be found extracts from his accoun t. ofDetroit

Although the C ity of Duluth , at the

extrem e southwes t en d of Lake S tuperior, h as

“

b een named after this’ hardyp ioneer ,“t hat h on'

or‘

WOu l d seem to

h ave b een better deserved b y eitherFort Will iam or Detroit . However,th e time for that is past , b u t if theC ity Of Fort William ev er undertakest h

h tu d th fir t

Du Lhut s tradin g post , however, didn ot last long, b u t in 1688

‘

J’

acque s deNoyon ascended t h e K am in ist iqu iaR iver on e search for th e western sea .

H e paddled up the K am in is t iqu ia an d

its connecting Waterway'

s t o’

‘

R ainyLake,

"

and in th e diary wh ich h e left ,he de scribes h ow , after going t

'

en

leagues up th e river , he came to th e

firs t portage, th e Spot w e n ow know asKakabeka Fawl ls We do not knowwh at feelings were as he gazed on thisbeautiful waterfall , the firs t white man

so far as we know to view them , b u t

n o doubt h e appreciated th eir beauty ,as it h as been appreciated year afteryear b y vis itors as well as by the res idents of this dis trict . He con tinu edup Dog R iver, passed through DogLake, continued on th rough Lac desMille Lacs ,

down t h e S eine R iver , andfin ally cam e to Rainy Lake , an d . thereh e built a tem porary poet an d wintered . T hus 23 5 years ago t h e riverK am in is t iqu ia was opened up to tradeand“commerce w ith ‘

the Northwest . It

is h ard, to realize that th is took pla‘

ce

in th e year :that Jam es II was drivenfrom h is th rone by

“th e E ngl ish rev.0~

lutton , g iving. way to h is daughterMary and his sons in-law -William ,

wh o h enceforth reigned as NVil l iamand Mary , an d that t h e great King ,Lou is XIV

,w as then King of France

"

De Noyon’

s discoveries led theFren ch Govern ment to become interested , an d in 1 7 1 7 on e Rob ertel de 13

Non e was sent ou t to'

reb uild th e trad ~

1

ing post a t th e mou th Of the Kam ins t quia River . Th e K am in is t iqu ia .w as1'

rs t known as the river of the Ass in

ib C ines , an d th en as Trois R ivieres ,

no doubt from th e fact th at the twois lands at its mOu t h separate its

waters into three part s as

'

t h’

ey enterLake S uperioi . R ainy Lake was thenknown as the Lake of th e C rists

’

or

C rist in aux Lake . T h e Fort built by De

Noyon was at th e weste rn en d of th is

lake or on the banks or th e Tekamim ou en or Ou ch ich iqRiver (RainyR iver ) . Th e only known accoim t of

De Noyon ’s j ourney th rough RainyR iver is contained in a memoir bythe Intendan t Beg

’

on , dated 12t h Nov

ember, 1 761 , and from this We”

learn

th at the spring follow ing th e foundingof this fort the explorer w ith a

“

partyof Indians descen ded R ain y R iver to

the Lake of the Wood s . B eg on’

s description leaves no doubt as to th e

identity of th e stream . A bout twoleagues after entering

“

the river, h e

says “there is a fall , where a sm allportage is required , an d there are als o

two other sma l l falls where p ort agesalso require to be made , and then wecome to Lac aux Iles , otherwise calledAss in ib oiles . The . first fall men tionedis that wh ich breaks the stream b e

tween F ort Frances an d InternationalFall s ; the o ther two are Manitou

R ap ids an d t h e Long S ault . At th e

en d of t h e Lake of the Wood s , accordin g ,

to Indian report, there w as ariver emp tying into th e WesternSea . Th e -Mer d e l

’

Qu es t , or West

ern Sea , h ad‘been the goal of F rench

exploration from C anada“almost from

t h e foun ding of the colon y . As t h e

tide of dis covery rolled westward, t h eelusive Western S ea receded before i t .

Obviously, the great b ody of waterwhich th e Ind ia s described to,

de

Noyon ,and w h ich Begon call-s th e

Wes tern Sea , was what we kn ow t oday

THUNDER BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY

as Lake Winnipeg . At a later datethis Western Sea

'was sought for farto the west an d sout hwest , across thegreat plains , and over the R ockyMountains

,an d it remained for Alex

ander Mackenzie to finally prov e wh at

a vast continent lay between the S t .

Lawrence an d the true Western S ea .

No further attempts at western discov ery appear to have been made u n

t il the year 1 73 1 , when Pierre Gaultier ’

de la Verendrye b egan the long s eriesof explorations to which he was to devote the remainder of his life . He setout

’

from M ontreal on June 8th of that

year, w ith his three sons , Jean Baptiste, Pierre and F rancois , his nephewLa J em eraye, an d “a p arty of soldiers

an d v oyageurs , _about 5 0 in . all . They

reached t he western en d‘

of Lake S u

perior towards_the end of August . U n

like De Noyon ,an d Le Noue, La Veren d rye had decided to fol low a n ew .

route to the west , by way of Pigeon

R ive r , what was later known as t h e

Grand Portag e route . Because oftrouble with his m en he sent hisnephew ahead w ith a small party ,

while he w ith the remainder winteredat the K am in ist iqu ia . La Jem eray e

got through to Rainy Lake , an d b uilta post which ‘he named Port S t . Pierre ,in h onor of the leader of the expediti on , ou Rainy R iver n ear the p lacewhere it leave s the lake of _

the samename . The Fort stood on what is n owknown at -P ith er

’

s Point . On June 8th ,,1 732 , La Verendrye w ith “

his m en setout for Fort S t

:Pierre

,taking over a

month“to traverse the intricate ch ainof small streams an d lakes , w ith theirn u merous portages

,connectin g Lake

,

Superior an d Ra iny Lake . After ashort re st at the Fort

,the entire part y,

escorted b y 5 0 canoes of Indians , descended Rainy R iver to t h e Lake of

_

t h e Woods , cross ed the lake to whatwas for many years

'

later known asthe North West Angle Inlet

, an d builtFort S t . C harles on its southern s ide .

This was the first“trad ing establish

ment , in fact , th e firs t habitation of

whit e men , ever built on th e shoresof the Lake of

“the Woods. We need

n ot enter into any further details of

La Veren drye’

s travels , althoug h the-yf orm a fascinating story . Suffice it tosay

'

th at on June 8th, 1 7 36, La Verendrye

’

s oldest son and 1 9 Frenchmen ,set ou t - for F ort M ich il im ackin ac to

get provis ions for t h e fam ished members of the expedition . But on an

island some 21 m iles away, the wholeparty was murdered by a band of

S ioux , w h o had been led to believethat the French favored their tradit iona l enemie s the C rees . The island .

situate in the Lake of the Woods , h aseven s ince born e the sinister name of

Mass acre Isl-an d . S ome years ago theauthorities of S t . Boniface C ollege or

gan ized.

an expedition to discover t h eexact site of Fort S t . C h arles , an d aftermuch searching , foun d it , togetherw ith the bones of young La Verendryean d h is companion ,

Father Au ln eau .

The remains were rem oved t o,the

C ollege , an d a p amphlet , describingthe work of the exp-edition was publ ish ed , _ wh ich is w ell worth perusing .

The route to the west by way of

Grand Portage has been mentioned .

Four ma in canoe rou tes were recogn ized between L a k e “

Superior an d

Lake Winn ipeg , three of which ledthrough Rainy Lake , R ainy R iver an dthe Lake of the Woods , an d thesethree were in more general use durin g the period of exp l oration an d thefur trade . The route first discoveredwas that by way of the K am in is t iqu iaR iver . After 1 7 17 that route was

abandoned , in favor of that by way of

Grand Portage,until the former was

rediscovered by R oderick Mackenzie ,of the North West C ompany

,in 1 7 98 .

The first mention of the Grand Port ageroute is contained

'

in a letter by an

officer named Pach ot , wh o,referring

to a proposed trading “es tablishmen ton Rainy Lake

, says : Th e best routeto go to the proposed establishmentwould be by a small river named theN -

e u t o k a o gane 1 (or Nan tokougan e )which is about seven leagues fromK am in is t igoya . The small river re

ferred to was that now kn ow n'

as thePigeon R iver , an d the route was th eafterward-s famous Grand PortageR oute : La J em eraye, nephew of LaVerendrye, was the first white man _to

paddl e from Lake Superior to RainyLake , by Way of Grand Portage . LaVerendrye does n ot say in h is j ournalswh y he adopted thi s route , but probably he h ad learned from the Indianstha t

“it p ossessed some advantages

over t h e K am in is t iqu ia. In any eventhe an d his m en used it a l toget h er

‘

d u r

in g th e many years that he was en

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IETY,

gaged in exploring th e great westerncountry ; the same route was followedby other French explorers an d tradersdown to the close of the p eriod of

French rule in C anada ; an d it wasadopted by the British fur trad-ers astheir principal thoroughfare until diffi cu l t ies in connection with the international

_ bound'

ary drove the officersof the North West C ompany to s earchfor other routes more to the north .

The history of th e re-opening of theK am in ist iqu ia route , originally d iscovered by De Noyon

,i s somewhat curi

ou s .

“

T o w a r d s the en d of t h e

eighteenth century, it having beenfound that Grand Portage

,up to this

time the principal establishment of

t h e North Wes t C om -pany , was on

American territory , a determ ined ef

fort w as m ad e'

to disc over anotherroute farther north . E douard U um fre

ville was sent to explore the countrywest of Lake Nep ig on in 1 784

,an d ac

tual ly found a practicable route ,which will be referred t o presently . In

1 798 , however, R oderick Mackenzie ,

returning to Grand Portage from thewest, accidentally learned from aparty of Indians of a water common icat ion running from Lake La C roixto the mouth of the K am in is t iqu ia .

He followed it to Lake S u perior , an d

as a result th e North West C ompanymoved its establishment from GrandPortage to the mouth of K am in is

tiquia , where Fort William’

, (the OldF o r t C am an ist igoya ) was rebuilts ometime between 1 801 -5 . U p to th e

tim e of Mackenzie’

s discovery, or re

discovery, of the K am in is t iqu ia route ,it seem s to have been unknown to theNorth West C ompany .

The .third_route from Lake Superior

to Rainy L ake , or R ainy R iver,was

by way of the S t . Louis river . I t i sn ot known d efinitely when this routewas first discovered or use d»

, but inan unpublished memorandum by David Thomp son , for many years astronomer an d surveyor of the North WestC ompany ,

an d later astronomer andsurveyor under the s ixt h an d seventharticles of the treaty of Ghent ,

'

h e

indicates that th e route by way of

the S t . Louis river , Verm ilion riveran d Lake Nam-

akan,was a thorough

fare of the fur traders before 1 783 .

These three routes , by'way of the

K am in ist iqu ia, Gran d‘

Portage and t h e

S t . Louis R iver , led to Rainy Lake an dthe Lake of the Woods . The fourthroute was farther to the north

, an d

did n ot touch R ainy Lake or'

the Lakeof the Woods . It ran from Lake Superior up t h e N ep ig on R iver ta th e lakeof the same name , then westward byvarious rivers an d lakes to E nglishriver , an d

- down that s tream to theWinnipeg river . It was di scoveredby Um frev ille in 1 7 84 , an d althougha practicable route

,was never much

used by the fur traders .

H ere let me pause for a m omentto call attention to the wonderfuldaring an d ingenuity of t h e m en w h o

travelled thousands of m iles in birchbark canoes , an d over long an d .

hardportages . They t hought nothing , ap

paren t ly , of leaving their homes for

months an d even years,to make these

j ourneys . We who travel today in

palatial steam vessels,beautiful par

lor cars an d comfortable automobiles,would well hesitate at making even

a single voyag e invo lving the hardships which travelling at that timedid . It may be of interest t o givesome descrip tion of the canoes usedin those days

,an d h ow they navi

gated the intricate water coursesPe ter Grant, of the North West C ompany

,in h is account of the Sau t eau x

Ind ians an d the fur trade in t h e Lakeof the Woods region , gives th e rol lowin g description . H e says :

Th e N o r t h West C ompany’scanoes , manned with five m en

,carry

ab out lbs . They se ldom drawmore than 1 8 inches of .

water , an d

g o,generally , at the rate of 6 m ile s

an h our in calm weather . When arrived at a p ortag e ,

t h e bowman in

s tan t ly jump s in_

the water , to prevent the canoe from t ouching . thebottom , while the others tie theirslings to the packages in the canoean d swin g them on their backs to

'

carry over the portage . The bowm an and steersm an carry their canoe .

a duty from wh ich the middlemenare exem pt . The whole is conductedwith astonishing expedition , a n eces

sary consequence of t h e . enthusiasmwhich always attends their long an d

p erilous voyages .

It is pleasing to see t hem , whenthe weather is calm and s erene , pad“d l in g in their canoes , s inging in

chorus their simple melodi ous strains

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20 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR I C ALSOC IE TY

Owing to the maps an d other in

formation available at the time of th edrawing of the treaty , being erron e

ous in many particulars this treaty,instead of preventing disputes was exceed in g ly fruitful of them , and several t imes brought the two n ations tothe verge of war . The resul t w as thatpractically th e

_whole boundary linew as at v ariou s times the subject oftreaties with the United S tates

,an d

invariably C anada ’got the worst of it .On December 24t h , 1 81 4 , Great Brit

ain an d the United S tates S igned atGhen t the treaty that closed the w ar

of 1 81 2 . The treaty prov ided for adeterm ination of t h e boundary fromthe

' water communication betweenLake

'

Huron an d Lake Superior to th emost northwestern point of the Lakeof the Woods . In 1 822 survey-orswere instructed to ascertain th e p osition of Long Lake or, if n o lake ofth at name could 3b e found

,to d eter

m ine the ch ain of. waters supposed to

be referred to under that name . In

Oc tober , 1 824 , it se emed likely thatPigeon R iv er an d R ainy~ R iver wouldb e -adopted as the boundary line , asn o Long Lake had been found

,but the

British C omm i ssioner ordered surveysOf t h e route by way“of the S t . Louisrive r, an d the United S tates C ommiss ion er —ordered the expl oration of theK am in is t iqu ia R iver .

Th e C om m iss ion ers were unable toreach an agreement as to the line fromI sle R oyale to th e Lake of the Woods .

Barclay , the British C omm is s ioner ,claimed that . the line should run fromIsle Royale southwesterly to t h e headof the lake , thence by way of the S t .

Louis an d Verm il ion R ivers to t h e

Grand Portage canoe route, an d

t h en ce \ b y“the - latter t o th e Lake of

the Woods . Porter , the Un ited S tatesC ommis sioner , contended th at t h e

line Should follow the K am in is t iqu iacan oe route

‘

to its junction w ith theGrand Portage route, an d thence by

“

the latter to the Lake of the Woods .

Th e treaty of 1 783 defined the boundary , as before mentioned , as passingnorth

’ward of t h e ‘

Isles R oy ale an d

P h i l ipeaux,to the Long Lake

,thence

through th e m iddle of said Long Laketo the water communication be tweenit an d the Lake of the Woods , etc .

Barclay therefore con ten ded z'

(1 ) That the S t . Louis R iver an =

swered the description of Lon g Lake ,as it contained a lake expansion

,at

its m Ou t h .

( 2 ) That it was an ancient“com

m ercial_

r0u t e,whilst the others were

comparatively n ew .

(3 ) That the S t . Louis river w as

more navigable than the others .

(4 ) That on many old map s it w as

described as The lake or S t . Louisriver .

(5 ) That the boun dary spoken of inthe treaty was “through Lake Superior, an d it was a fair d eduction thatit Should ru n through to the end , asotherwise it would n ot ru n throughLake Superior .

”

Porter , the United S tates C omm i ss ion er, claimed(1 ) That Dog Lake was Long

Lake .

(2 ) That it could n ever have beenintended that the boundary , as de ~

scribed in the treaty,Should form a

great a’

rc S imply to take in an I‘

m inportant island such as Isle R oyale ,but that it had intended to run theboundary line straight to

'

t h e'

m ou th ofthe K am in is t iqu ia river .

(3 ) Th at the K am in is t iqu ia prov id ed continuous water com m u n ica

tion wh ich was n ot the case with theother routes .

The matter continued unsettled u n

til July , 1 842 ,when Lord As h b u rtor.

wrote to Daniel Webster,then S ecre

tary‘

of S tate for the United S tat es ,proposing that the line,b e taken from

a point about S ix miles South ofPigeon R iver , where the Grand Portage commences , an d continued alongthe line of. said portage to R ainyL ake

,th e route to remain common

,

toboth partie s . On the 27 t h of the samemonth Webster replied that he w as

w illing to agree on a line followingthe Pigeon R iver or Grand Portageroute to R ainy L ake

,it being unde r

s t ood that all the water com m u nica

tions an d portages Should be free an d

open to the '

use of the subjects andcitizens of bo

‘

th countries . Ash burtonaccepted these terms , and

,

they wereincorporated in a treaty , an d th e matter -was thus finally settled .

Almost all the trouble involved - in

definitely fixing this portion of the in

tern at ion al boundary line arose by

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY

reason of errors on t h e m ap us ed inthe drawing u p of the treaty. Thismap , known as M itch el l ’s ‘

m ap , showeda large stream emptying from R ainyLake into Lake Superior

,an d t h e nego

t iators , naturally chos e this stream asthe most natural an d convenient toform th e boundary . But for t his geographical error the bounda ry linewould most certainly have been drawnto the head of Lake Superior , thenup the S t . Louis R iver to its s ourcean d thence due west to

_

the Missis sip iR iver . AS

' the treat y .was actua llydrawn ; it provided an imposs ibleboundary line if Pigeon R iver was intended , as the line could .n ot b e carriedthrough the Lake of the Woods , an d

due wes t to the Miss is sip i R iver . Th e

Missi ssip i R iver,on Mitchell

’s map ,appeared as having its source far tothe north , when as a matter of factits source is due south of the Lakeof t h e

'Woods .

The inclusion of’

Ph il ipeaux Is landin the boundary descrip tion alsocaused much confusion . On Mitchell

’

s

m ap Isle R oyale was either indicatedtwice

,once under its ow n name an d

again under the name of Isle“Phil

ipeaux ,or else

'

Isle R oyale was indicat ed under its ow n name , and PieIsland was ind icated as Is le ' Philipeaux .

.

‘

There Was a S imilar duplicat ion of Michip icoton Island

,which ap

peared as He Maurepa s an d again asPontchartrain Island .

Respect-in g th e Long Lake Shownon Mitch ell

’s map , there can be n o

d oub t of i ts identity with the presentPigeon Bay . The large stream Shownas flowing ou t of Rainy Lake was inreality Pigeon R ive r

,a comparatively

small s tream , which as w e n ow knowd oes n ot flow ou t of R ainy Lake .

It is interesting , though probably u n

profitable,to speculate as to wh at the

consequences would _ have been hadeither the S t . Louis River or the Kamin ist iqu ia been chosen as the b,oundary . In the

'

latter case , we wouldhave had the United S tates right atou r doors , Mt . M cK ay and th e Mis sionTerm inals w ou ld have been

'

in theS tate of Minnesota

,an d the building

of ou r C anadian railways in all Brit'

ish territo'

ry“

to th e west would havebeen a much "more com plicated operation than it actually proved to be . Onth e oth er h '

an d , fh ad th e boundary line

2 1

followed the S t . Louis river , C an ada.would have been the possessor of thefamous an d immensely wealthy ironore deposits of the Mesaba range . In

either case the his tory of th i s localitywould have been entirely different . M r.

Mitchell , whoever he wa s , by preparin g a m ap of a locality with which hewas n ot fam iliar , los t to C anada on e

of the richest m ineral ; sec tion s: i nAmerica , an d helped to build up theC ity of Duluth ,

in United S tates territory , at our expense .

R eference h as been made to theNorth West C ompany, an d a word as

to the company may n ot be ou t of

place . Whils t the Hudson’

s Bay C ompany was composed mos tly of E nglishm en , or at an y ra te m en living in E n g

land,the North West C ompany was

composed of'

m en'

l iving in Montreal ,principally S cotchmen , as is indicatedb y

'

the numerous “Macs mentionedin connection with its affairs . Theywere active competitors of the H ud

son’s Bay C ompany , an d it can wellbe imagined that w ith m en of the typeof those employed by th e riv a l com

pan ies , competition woul d soon deve10p into active warfare . I t i s n ot

my purpose to go into t h e history of

this warfare . It is an interestings tory

,an d Fort William figured many

times in the b itter fight .,But to make

a long story short,Lord S elkirk , hav

in g acquired a controlling interest in

the Hudson’

s Bay C ompany, attemptedto found a colony where the presen t

C ity of Winnipeg strand-s . H is failurew as ab oii t as complete a s it cou ld b e ,

an d yet i t i s n ot too much to say , tha tout o f his efforts and struggles . t h

pres-en t ‘

Northwest—so far as it s agricultu ra l potentialit ies are concernedhad its beginning th rough him . H is

struggle with the North West C ompany is wel l know n . Defeated at last ,he sailed home t o die , an d the twocom lpan ies were amalgamated , an d theHu dson’s Bay post was imm ediatelymoved from Point de M eu ron to Fort

Wi lliam . Point de M eu ron ,which lies

just above the west limi t of For t W ill iam , was so called after C ol . d e

M eu ron , the leade r of a Swis s regiment , brought ou t by Lord S elkirk ,

which wintered at that Spot . Thechange to Fort William took place in1 821 , and thus 102 years ago Fort Will iam again became the headquarters

22 THUNDE R'

BAY H ISTOR IC AL S OC IETY

of the great fur trade of t h e wes tIt was about 1 805 that the Fort at

the mouth oi the K am in i st iqu ia riverwas rebuilt , an d n amed F ort Williamin honor of - the Hon .

~William M acGil

l iv ray , w h o died in 1 82 5 . It remainedbut a ' Fort , however, until the earlyseventie s . In

‘

1 869 ‘t h e Hudson’

s BayC ompany was compel led , after longan d strenuous negotiations

,to sell ou t

to the C anadian Go’

vernment , thewhole of t h e great North West territory , which it had governed fOr almost 200 years . It had on the wholegoverned well , but the time had comefor a the pressure couldn o longer be ' res i sted . Thereafter : l1 e

C anad ian“Pacific Railway was pro

a_

n d th e_

v e'

ry modernhistory of the

' District c ommenced .

There are many other,interesting

events which had I th e time , could beP

d etailed . The founding of the IndianMiss ion at F ort William in 1 846, t he

landing of Lord Wol sley’

S expeditionat Prince Arthur

’s Landing (n ow PortArthur ) , and it s toilsome an d periloustrip up the Daws on R oad an d the Kamin ist iqu ia R iver to Fort Garry , theb uilding of the Daw son R oad , the surveying and building of the C anadian

Pacific R ailway, the commencement ofthe great C anadian National railways ystem ,

which was really initiated bythe building of the old Port -Arthur,Duluth and .Western R ailway, thegreat fight between Ontario an d Man

itoba , to determ ine wh ether we shouldform part of fM

’an i tob a , or part of Ou

tario , all thes e have their interest toon e w ho is desirous of learning t h e

history of _

t h e past an d Of understandin g t h e p resent , but they are recentevents

,well known to

‘you

'

al l .

I have m erely skimmed the surfaceof the history of this D i strict . Thereis a

'

weal th of material which can bedrawn upon f an d some day n o doubt ,some writer of ability

,abl e to clothe

the story in fi tting words, will preparea h i story recording these events , astory which will rival an y of Parkman ’

s works . These few fragmentsof history arouse most interestingspeculations . This territory was onceFrench . Wrested by E ngland fromFrance ,

“a large part of it narrow ly

escaped be com ing American territory .

Had i t rem ained French , or had it b ecome American

,the history of C anada ,

an d the history of each an d every on e

of u s , Would have been entirely differ ,

en t . H-ad n ot Mitch ell’

s'map been de

fect iv e, ou r territory in all likelihoodwould have extended to the S t . LouisR ive r which separates Minnesota an d

Wisconsin ,an d the C ity of Duluth

would have been on C anad ian soil .But even as it is we h av e a wonder~

ful land . Providence has w is ely or

da ined that no part Of the earth shalllack some hum an being w h o loves tocall it his country . The E squim au l t

in th e north,the negro in th e heart

of Africa , the S outh S ea Islander on

his little island,cling to their native

land , bel ievin g that it i s the favoredland above all others . But

\

lookingou t over the troubled world of today ,we know that we have that favoredland in C anada , an d we can

_

d eepl yappreciate the feeling of the poetwhen he says ?Th ere is a land ,

" of every land thepride .

Beloved by H eaven o’

er al l the worldbeside ,

Wh ere brighter suns dis pense Seren erligh t ,

An d m ilder moons imparadise then ight .

A land of beauty , virtue , _valor , tru thTime tutored age an d l ove . exalted

youth ;Oh , thou w ill fi n d ,

where ’er thy footsteps roam ,

That lan d thy country . an d thatSpot thy home .

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THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

In 1 888 the late James Tonkin wass ent to make trails for

, the settlersby the Neeb in g council , from the S lateR iver

,we st to Oakleys , north to J . M .

Hunt’s and south by way -

of JohnM cLu re

’

S an d Jame s M cGreg or’

s to

ward Fred Gam m on d’

s . When I recallhow the settlers

,Without roads , hadput their teams through what was al

mos t bot tomle ss slou '

ghs,

an d t h e perseveranc e , displayed b y almost all . otthe p ioneers , an d

‘

th en look at theroad n ow , on Which the settler can

reach Fort William,in 30 or

'

40 m in

utes, in perfect comfort , I am amazed

an d delighted . Those fai thful p ioneersare deserving of at least kindly re

m em b ran ce . There are many w h o

ought t o be mentioned , but must beleft for some future occasion . I mus tn ot c lose though without men tioninga. few o f those who paved the way forthe S lave R iver of today , chief ofWhom i s the l ate E phriam Oakley an d

his : family ; John M cGu g an ,an d the

l a te George King . Later,came Thos .

Miller,senior, an d his family from

Bru ce C ount y , an d the late RobertHall , an d Dan M 'cGregor,

while fur

ther south,

'

an d very m uch isolated,

Franc i s Z immerman , with a youngfamily , stayed with the job , under verysevere handicaps. I cannot place eachan d every settler according to date ofsettling , etc . , an d pos sibly h av a m isseds ome who ought to h ave been m en

t ion ed .

The w inters of 1 892 an d’

93 had veryheavy snowfalls , a team cros sed in

safety the Kam R iver at the lowersubway

,on May l st

,with '

two thousand feet oi lumber . The weatherthen turned warm an d kep t warm , thesnow melted very“fast , the water inthe K am river came up so quicklythat the ice w as lifted ou t w ithoutrotting . This formed a jamb of thousan ds of tons of ice against the PointDe

“Meu ron bridge . James M cGreg or

started for town , arriving at the bridgeabout 9 a . m . Th e bridge was liftedoff all but the en d p iers an d wasbellied away down stream at the middle . It was impossible to cros s . Mr .

M cGreg‘

or sat on the bank alone,

an d

witnessed a panorama whi ch excelsanything seen in the movies .

THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR I C AL SOC IE TY 2 5

Alexander Lord RussellB y H . K . W ick s t eed ,

Among the most useful an d least adv ert ised of C anadian Pioneers an d theLand Surveyors of the last generation

an d on e of the mos t notable of themwas the late A . L . Russell , who diedin Ottawa on June 1 1 t h ,

1 922 .

e . Russe ll fell naturally into the

“profession ,bein g a son of the late An

drew Ru ssel l ,“w h o was some 5 0 years

in the service of the Government . an dlatterly as Assis tant C ommis sion er of

C rown Lands ; Natural ly h e was muchin contact with the earlie r surveyorsan d he strove to raise

‘th eir standards

of work an d w ith such success t hathe was

.credited by them as being the“father

_of as tronom ical surveying in

C an ada .

Lindsay R ussell , nephew of A

drew ,was a distinguished succes sor,

who had a great deal to do with i h .

mapp ing of the Ottawa Valley an d d e

lnn itat ion of timber lim its,etc . In

the 6o’

s he ran several exploratorylines north an d west from Th underBay an d was associated w ith S imon

J . Daws on in the exploration an d con

struction of the amphibious route fromLake

‘

Superior to Fort Garry whichwas the forerunner of the C anadianPacific . R ailway . Later in th e 7o

’

s h e

C onducted the trigonometric-al surveyev er the prairie p rovince s to det erm ine the prin cipal meridians whichgoverned the detached subdivision su r

veys an d h e afterwards became SurveyGeneral an d still l at er Deputy M in i :ter of Interior .

The subject of our Sketch w as b orn

at Kings ton in Nov . , 1 842 ,at which

time it was t h e seat of governmen t .

He was educated at - the high schoolin Quebec an d early entered t h e C ivilS ervice . As a consequence of the“Trent affair” an d the difficulty withthe United S tates , the C ivil S ervice'

Aif le C orps was formed in 1 861 an d

young Russe ll join ed ,it at 1 9 , an d im

mediately distinguished himself as arifle shot

,wi nning s everal first . priz es .

In 1 866 during the Fenian Raid h e was

continuously on duty . an d passed 2n d

class board of officers . A year later

in 1 867 h e j oined the Toronto Garrison

Artillery an d passed through the

S choo l. of Gun n ery an d l s t class boardof officers

In 1 869 he published a handbook of

rifle shootin g which was accepted as

an authority in the art . In 1 870 heaccompanied C ol . Wolseley t o FortGarry on the historic R ed R iver m il itary

,

exped ition an d afterwards readan interesting paper on it before theThun der Bay H istorical S ociety . Theexped ition was unique as to transportat ion an d commissariat arrangementsan d the C olonel w as so impre ssedw ith the work of the C anadian Voyage11rs

”- that h e incorporated a n um

ber of them in his subsequent expedition up the '

Nile in the futile effort torelieve Gordon in Khartoum . Later heaccompanied Governor Archibald fromThun de r B ay to Fort France s 011 hisw ay to Fort Garry , as the firs t Govern or of Manitoba . Archibald

’

s canoecrew was commanded by t h e famousIroquois guide , Ignace Mentour , whomthe writer als o knew well a n d R u s

sell mentions him appreciatively in

his paper . A year or so later he wasas sistant leveller 011 on e of the surveyparties for the C an ad ian '

Pacifi c Railway under John Flem ing an d was on eof those - who redi scove red the forgott en Lake Nip igon . Incidentally he b e

came intimate ,w ith some of t h e pic

ne er residents of th is north coun try :

S ir H enry’

de la R on de an d Mr . C rawford of the H . B . C .

, in th e Nip igoncountry ; John Watt, a o w el l -kn ownhalf-breed voyageur ;

“Tch iaton ,

”a

C hristian Indian of high character whoh ad . so perfect a sense of directionthat he was credited with having atransit theodolite in his head . TheR ailway surveys of this date werevery uns uccessful an d unfortunateowing to the abs olute inexp erience ofthe engineers in charge in this classof work an d several m en were lost inbush fires

,while the results were quite

m i sleading .

26 THUNDE R BAY HISTOR IC AL SOC IE TY

On April 16th ,1 873 , he qualified a s

a Land Surveyor in Ontario an d in th esame yea1 h e was appointed on e of

tw o C anadian Surveyors as aids tothe R oyal E ngineers in marking t h e

boun dary line,the 49t h parallel of lati

tude from the Lake of the Woodswesterly

,an d later he

“assiste d his

cousin Lindsay in the accurate trian

g u lat ion survey for the determ inationof the principal meridians an d baselines , and i t was at this period that heacquired that tas te for precise workwhich was a hobby with him for th e

res t of his l ife . H is work on thesesurveys was highly commended an d

mention ed in the reports of the R oyalE ngineers .

In 1876. h e married in S t . John’

sC athedral , Winnipeg , Aurora C aroline ,daughter of Henry C odd , : a gentlemanfarm er

‘

of Ottawa .

'Tiring of his in cessan t absence ,

from home he shortlyafterwards m oved to Port Arthurwhere "

he had . s ome ‘ property an d

started a . g eneral surveyin g~

businessin partnersh ip with the writer . H e

was a' citizen of Port Arthur u p to.

within two years of h i s death , an d b esides subdividing a

'

great deal of th e

presen t'

city he surveyed a num ber of

mining claims , Ind ian R eserves , rightsof way for the C anadian Pacific an d

C an adian North ern Railways , etc . , etc .

H e w as: for a t ime a town council

lor, also sch ool trustee . H e was theoriginator of .the C urrent R iver Parkan d water power development an d an

enthusiastic worker in every “schemefor th e welfare of the city an d district .

H is m ilitary instincts still showedand in 1 889 he was appointed paymaster of t he 96th Algoma R ifles , fromwhich h e retired subsequently w ith therank. of captain . At this period h e

Showed again h is wonderful Skill withthe rifle

,making t h e possible 7 con

secu t iv e bull s eyes at 800 yards an d

w inning the al l-comers ’ m ilitary r1t ic

match .

tain o f the Lake Su perior Im perialVeterans , _

inspected “and"

commented o-n by the Duke of C on

naught . In,

'

l 91 4 he j oined the homeguards an d was p laced in charge of

Dom inion registration of Thunder Bayan d Rainy. R ive-r districts .

In 1 920, -at the age of 78 years , h ewon the .C ivil Service R ifle cup in

In'

1 91 2_

‘

h e was elected cap- ifavorably

M r. Rus sell is survived by thre esisters—Mrs . J . B . S impson of Ottawa ,Mrs . Osborn Lambly of Bellevil le

, an d

M rs . R oy of Boyn A t try n , P en n sy l

vania . On ly on e son w as born to himearly in his married life who died ininfancy .

Ottawawith the record score of 9 con

secu t iv e bull s eyes .

R u ssel l still persis ted in surveywork an d in 1 9 1 9 h e was commiss ioned by the On tario Government tomake a detailed survey of Lakes S h e

'

b an dowan an d Greenwater to t h e

northwe st of Port Arthur .

_

Misfortunecame upon h im '

an d Mrs . Russell wentthrough a very - serious illness whichfinally ended fatally . H e moved h er,011 t h e advice (i f friends , to Ottawa , intending t o complete the draugh tingwork in connection with t his s urvey

,

there . A few m onths before his d eathhe met with a very serious street cara ccident from which h e never recow

ered comp letely an d he died as aboverecorded in his

_

80th year . Mrs . R u s

sell s urvived him by only two weeks .

AS executor for the little e state it fellto the writer’s lot to complete themapping of his last survey an d he begshere to testify to the great courtesyshewn him by th e director of surveysan d his staff .

A . L . Russell was a profes s ionalm an to his finger tips .

’

H e had a greatl ove for an d belie f in h h is country a ndh iS

'

ch -osen city of Port Arthur an d ,

while he could w ith his record duringthe latter years

‘

of the 1 9 th centuryan d his many influential Ottawafriends have undoubtedly secured an d

filled a good posi tion in the C ivil Service he steadfastly set h is face againstthe change . H e saw th e great futuredevelopment which was “

com ing an d

believed h e could profit by it .Like many professional m en he was

an arti st in temperament and 'h e hada surpassing contemp t and hatred form odern business methods and thetrickery and chicanery

“so often in

volved'

an d he w as extremely ou t

spoken ih his denunciati on of them .

As a‘

consequence he made m an y\

per

sonal enemies . Although of S cotch descent h e was absolutely devoid of

thrift an d his association w ith R oyalE ngineers an d military m en probably .

contributed to this characteristic . In

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28 THUNDE R BAY H ISTOR IC AL S OC IE TY

Lak-es between Arrow Lake andAgnes

\

Lake ~ on . Hunt er’

s I sland—Dec .

1 887 .

C ertain lands North of Twps . WareGorham an d MacGreg or —Jun e , 1 91 5 .

Traverse sh ore of Lower Shebandowan—Sept . , 1 91 7 .

- Traverse shore of U pper S hebandowan —~June ,

1 91 9 .

For t h e Dom in ion Government Mr .

Russell made the fol lovving Surveys :

1 827—S outh outlines Twps . 1 1 -5 , 6, 7

an d 8-P r. ; North outlines Twp . 3 -1 -Pr. ;

Tw ps .

-7 1 . an d 2 = P r.

1 873—Outlines an d subdivisions .

1 874 Outline s an d traverse partLake of Woods .

1 87 5 -76—Outline work .

1 87 7—Parts of 2n d m eridian arid'

3rd

meridian an d outline work .

1 878—Outline w ork West of 2n d

meridian .

1 879 -Out1ine work an d exploringC arrot R iver district .

1 880—Outline work West'

of . 2n d

meridian .