How pioneers survived – Partners

Cypress Hills

The pioneers who explored and settled North America were from a variety of backgrounds. Some were young, a few were old (middle-aged in the standards of today), some were educated and most were not.

Many ventured out alone and if they had some experience in protecting and feeding themselves they managed to survive. If they happened to be extremely fast learners they might survive. If they had neither skill or could not find someone who did they often perished.

Having company often helped. With two people or a group each will have different skills which will help and they can also watch each other’s back in a crisis. There where instances when a married couple managed to make a living on a western farm when neither was experienced or fitted for the life in the beginning but working together managed to prosper. There are also examples of such couples not surviving.

Most of those who trod the prairie and mountains in those early days were men. Groups would have been from a variety of backgrounds with a wide range of education, How did the young get along with the old or the illiterate with the professor?

That was my concept when I wrote “Partners” my second published novel, access to which has changed, mostly without my knowledge.

Amazon still has it listed as a Kindle (and as a book at a price no one in the world would pay) but the printed version can still be found through the SBP web site which is http://sbprabooks.com/davidmmcgowan or simply click on the book cover to the right.

I suspect to change this availability soon but not for a few months since I have other things on my plate.

The story begins near “Old Wives Lake” which is now a migratory bird sanctuary on the eastern edge of the Cypress Hills. Near the lake (which covers a fairly large area but is not that deep) there is just the beginning of a rise in elevation from the prairie to the east. This rolling landscape continues to rise to where the hills become much more extensive. It is there that two main characters come back to them later in the story, further west in the hills.

This central to western area of the Cypress Hills has been used in several stories the most famous of which is “The Englishman’s Boy” by Guy Vanderhaegue. The story (and the movie) climax is the historic Cypress Hills Massacre where a mixed group of whites (Americans and Canadians and Métis) attacked a village of peaceful Assiniboine resulting in the death of twenty and one of the Americans. This battle took place in 1873 and was the push the accelerated the establishment of the North West Mounted Police that the “great leaders” in Ottawa had been talking about for years (as politicians still do) but had done little to achieve. (And as they still do.)

Cypress Hills, where the story starts.

A beautiful area in south west Saskatchewan.

In 1866 the area which now includes Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta was called Rupert’s Land and was under the control of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Those in the east who where trying to form a country from the British Colonies hadn’t done much to change that since they were concentrating on Upper Canada (Ontario), Lower Canada (Quebec), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. They like-wise had not opened communication with the Colony of British Columbia. Two years later (1868) Canadian Confederation was achieved for the east under the British America Act and Rupert’s Land became the North West Territories except for a small area around Winnipeg becoming and embryo Manitoba.

Wild Horse Creek

          One of many small gold rush towns in British Columbia that are either ghost towns, show traces of habitation or have ceased to exist. B.C. Colonial Police Constable Jack Lawton was stationed here when he was murdered.

Barkerville street scene

Barkerville

          At the time it was said to be the largest center west of Chicago and north of San Francisco. A gold rush town with people coming and going and many refusing to acknowledge their own presence it is hard to find accurate numbers but 8 thousand for 1867 is probably fairly close. There were several small communities in the Cariboo Country where gold was being extracted (Kellyville, Antler Creek, Van Winkle, Harvey Creek and Quesnel Forks) but Barkerville was the center and even during the winter would usually hold five hundred people.

It has been claimed that there were no serious battles between whites and aboriginals in Canada’s history. However there were two in B.C. (colonial days), several in the early days along what is now the St. Lawrence Seaway and two battles between whites and Métis. There were also innumerable confrontations between individuals and small groups.

The various governments and law enforcement agencies would like everyone to think that there where few violent confrontations between any individuals during the building of Canada. It is true that there were not many recorded or quelled by the authorities. However, people being people I’m sure there where as many confrontations as in any other land, a large portion of those being between different races. The one advantage in the Canadian west, after 1874 at least, was the existence of a Federal Police force (the NWMP) although they were half the size required and therefore sometimes a little more “abrupt” than should have been necessary.

There is a ‘Heritage Moment’ on Canadian television which depicts Inspector Sam Steele of the North West Mounted Police explaining to an American visitor to the Klondike Gold Fields that “Men don’t wear firearms in Canada”. It upsets me. Not many could afford handguns but those who could buy them did so and wore them though almost never within an established community or town. Our pioneers where no dumber than those from other countries; anyone who ventures into the wilds alone or who works and lives with wild animals and doesn’t have a personal means of protection or of attaining protein is a fool.

There used to be (perhaps 20 years ago?) a show on Canadian TV called ‘Bordertown.’ Good actors, good directing but the concept upset me. The Mounted Policeman (for the north side of the town) was a law abiding, caring, thoughtful figure. Had he been indicative of policemen of the time they would have all been beaten or murdered by the not so nice people evident in any place or time including this one.

The town Marshal (for the south side of the town) was rough, tough, uncaring and a shoot-first-ask-questions-later sort. He too would have been eliminated by the people of the time, but in this case the law abiding element.

Below are the historical notes from the last pages of ‘Partners’.

Old Woman Lake

Located in what is now south-central Saskatchewan. Aboriginal legend claims that a group of Assiniboine (or Cree or Blackfoot or Crow, depending on the storyteller) were surrounded here by a group of Blackfoot (or Cree or Crow, again depending on the narrator). An old woman in the group volunteered to keep the fires burning while the rest slipped away in the night. The end of the legend, again depending on the narrator, has the old woman killed by the attackers, adopted, or the campsite vacant with no sign of the old woman.

Probably in an effort at political correctness it has been renamed and now appears on Saskatchewan maps as ‘Old Wives Lake’.

Blackfoot

Actually a confederacy of three Algonquin nations, the Kainai, Sitsika, and Peigan, the name “Blackfoot” supposedly placed on them by the Lakota or Sioux. Outnumbered by everyone except the whites, (and by the mid-1800s them too) they made up in ferocity what they lacked in population. The fear they engendered in other peoples was only equaled by the Kiowa and later the Apache far to the south.

Colonel Coleman

It is true that Colonel Coleman is a figment of my imagination. However, during the time period depicted and because there was nothing to stop them, there were several individuals who attempted to create their own kingdom in what is now Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. According to the Hudson Bay Company’s charter (and the British Crown) the entire area was part of that company’s area of operation and thus under their protection until 1869. However, practically speaking, this area was buffalo country with a white population consisting of about 500 whiskey traders and a few trappers. Thus the company held very little interest in the area and had no force capable of stopping or even slowing incursions.

As mentioned above, the North West Mounted Police, formed to prevent incursions, eliminate whiskey, and protect the population, did not arrive in the area until 1874.

Captain McDougal

Like Colonel Coleman, Captain McDougal is a completely fictional character. However, the U.S. Army of the day was populated with officers (and troopers) who took demotions following the end of the Civil War in order that they might have a home. A few of these officers and their men were of less than stellar character, but many, such as the fictional Captain McDougal, completed almost impossible tasks despite being virtually ignored by Washington.

Bear Child

He was known by the white man as Jerry Potts, but his Kainai name was Bear Child. He was the son of a Scott, Andrew Potts, an American Fur Company clerk at Fort McKenzie and Namo-pisi (Crooked Back) a member of Black Elk’s band.

Jerry Potts has been called the greatest scout and guide of the old west, which, considering the competition may or may not be completely true. There is no doubt that the two people most responsible for the early survival of the North West Mounted Police, and thus the continuing longevity of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are Colonel J.F. Macleod and Jerry Potts.

British Columbia

Actually, the ‘Colony of British Columbia’ was very short lived and for much of the time before joining Canada was “The Colony of Vancouver Island” and “The Colony of New Caledonia”. At the time these two colonies joined confederation another “New Caledonia” (a French territory in the South Pacific) existed so the “Province of British Columbia” came into existence. I chose to use the British Columbia name in an attempt to avoid confusion.

Constable Jack Lawson

Constable Lawson, a rookie with the British Columbia Police force was the second police officer to be killed in the line of duty in what is now Western Canada. A few days before his death on July 18, 1867, Canadian Confederation had been achieved, but British Columbia had not joined at that point and was still a British colony. While investigating the theft of horses from Oregon Territory, Lawson was shot by ‘One Ear Charlie’.

Charles H. (One Ear Charlie) Brown

One Ear Charlie was a totally despicable thug with a long criminal career that covered the Western United States and the Colony of British Columbia. During one of his many incarcerations he attempted to overpower a prison guard at Victoria who shot off his ear.

Charlie’s last crime was the killing of Constable Lawson who was widely liked by the miners of Wild Horse Creek. Since no other officers were immediately available, four miners trailed Brown south into Oregon where they shot him out of the saddle on July 20, 1867.

Despite diligent research, I could find no mention of the names of the four vigilantes and so I have given them names.

From the back cover of “Partners”

Thomas Brash is trying to escape but knows he never will. Pursuing him is the memory of the family he lost to cholera. Perhaps he believes that traveling alone in a wild, dangerous land will end all his memories; there is no doubt he wishes to be alone.

Whatever his intentions the appearance of Frank Clement and the circumstances of that meeting upset those plans. Brash views Clement as an uneducated child who requires fatherly protection and guidance. Clement views Brash as a tenderfoot and cannot understand how anyone who knows so little could live so long. These two loners are joined by others and they all become partners.

Having achieved relative sanctuary and surrounded by civilization

their wilderness past comes back to haunt them.

Once again ... leave a comment.