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Chapter 7: Ninety Miles in an Ox Wagon
When it was known that we were all going, many were the comments made on our undertaking, while those who knew the country evidently thought we were in blissful ignorance of what lay before us; others complimented my husband on having such courageous ladies as his companions.
June 7th brought a clear bright morning, & we hoped that the fine weather had really come, for tho' we had had no wet days, the previous week had been stormy. We were to be ready by 2 o'clock, so as early as possible were busy with our many arrangements preparatory to going ninety 90 in an ox wagon. We had bought a tent, camp stove, teapot, kettle, tin cups & plates, & provisions for the journey; besides laying in a stock of grocery flour, potatoes, some necessary crockery, & churn, milk tins, lantern, & coal-oil, buckets, also plough, scythe, buck-saw, axe, prong, spade & many requisites for my husbands use. With so much to fill the wagon, we found it necessary to leave all the trunks at the warehouse, to be sent on by the next steamer to Grand Valley, which is about thirty miles from Minnedosa, for the roads were still in a bad state & we were afraid to have too heavy a load. I should like to have taken a table & few chairs, but there was no room, & I have since been glad that we did not, as they would have been entirely spoilt, before we had a house to put them in, & 35 shillings was the price of a plain deal table, stained but not varnished, we bought a much better one at Lakefield for 12. Our youngest little girl looked so pale & fragile, that I thought she required a tonic for which we went to a doctor, who also kept a druggists store, on hearing of our intended journey, he began commiserating us, for like the majority of people, he thought any place further West was quite out of civilisation at which my husband said "It does seem a great undertaking, but my wife has plenty of pluck". How often since have I thought of his reply, as with a solemn shake of his head, he said "& she will need it" he however consoled us by saying that in all probability being constantly in the open air would do more to bring back the colour to our little Ethels cheeks, than anything he could give her & this we found to be correct. Packing a wagon was something altogether new to us, & a terrible business it proved. They are constructed differently to the farm wagons used in England, the sides being perfectly straight & about 2 feet high, in reality very like a long box without a lid, having a cover, similar to those used on our own vans. We agreed to dispense with the spring seat, thinking it more comfortable without, so we arranged our boxes at the front to sit on, making higher seats for the children further back, so that they might see out, but how to put the crockery where it would not break, & the provisions where we could get at them easily, the saw, scythe, & prong where they would not hurt anyone & the groceries & flour where the rain would not blow in on them, was a puzzle, at last my husband had accomplished it as he thought satisfactorily & we went to dinner. Soon after my sister & the children joined by some of our friends walked forward & we started with the oxen & wagon to call at the stores for some things which had not been sent. It certainly was in our eyes a ludicrous turn out, for the cow which I have forgotten to mention was tied on at the back & did not quite approve of her position, our dog Gyp too, preferred staying at the Hotel & we had some difficulty to keep her with us. Soon after the appointed time we were on our way to the West End of the town, where we were to meet the 2 men already mentioned, they had formerly farmed in Ontario & leaving their wives & children there had come out here the year before to take land & get houses in readiness for their families & now had just returned from Winnipeg where they had been to meet them. On reaching the place agreed on we found ourselves the first to arrive & had sometime to wait before they came in sight, meanwhile we were amazed at the number of Indians, who were seated in a circle on the ground playing some kind of game, we could not understand what it was, but they were shaking what we thought dice, in a mocassin & keeping count with a number of small sticks all the while singing in a most extraordinary manner, it appeared as if when either won they sang their loudest & when the reverse their voices almost died away. In the midst we were startled by the cow tossing our eldest little boy, the animal evidently resented being tied up & he unconsciously got too near, most fortunately he was not much hurt, although the skin was grazed off his side for several inches. She was really a most docile creature & I never knew her attempt to hurt anyone afterwards. It now began to thunder & looked so dark that we knew rain must be coming & before we had time to reach a store, it was pouring down in tremendous drops. While we were taking refuge here our fellow travellers arrived, & as soon as the storm abated, we went back to where we had left the wagon, it was still raining so contrary to our inclination we were obliged to climb into it & hurriedly start, as my husband was afraid our oxen would not keep pace with those before us. I had not been inside until now & never will my sister & I forget the impression it made on us, our boxes were comfortably arranged as seats, but the wagon was so full, that we could scarcely sit upright & finding it difficult to pack the various jugs & glass lantern, my husband had fastened them to the frame of the cover & they were swinging about to the imminent peril of our heads, such an incongruous scene, it quite beyond us to describe, & I can imagine the impression it must have made on our young English friends, as we wished them good-bye. We made but slow progress but by degrees got nearer to those in front. The roads were very wet & soon after 6 o'clock we came to a slough or mud hole. The first wagon crossed safely, but the second which was very heavily loaded, stuck fast in the mud & though the 1st man put on his oxen to help they could not get it out, for ½ an hour they made ineffectual attempts, then some part of the harness broke & they were obliged to give it up, the men carried their wives & children on to dry ground & said we had better not try to cross until the morning. It was found that the driest place for the tents was on the other side, but how were we to get there. I felt sure my husband could not carry me, but he would make the attempt & when nearly in the middle the mud was knee deep & he found it impossible to move his legs & had not some one come to his assistance I feel sure we should both have had a mud bath. An elderly man belonging to our party volunteered to carry my sister, but he too was obliged to call out for help, & we both congratulated ourselves when we were safely over & once more on our own feet. The next business after the children were across was to get our tent & other necessaries, this devolved entirely on my husband & I think he must have crossed & recrossed that horrible slough nearly 20 times. Our good natured companions pitched the tent & having spread the buffalo robes, we soon put our rugs & wraps inside & began preparing for tea, while waiting about we had gathered some dry sticks & now were very glad of them. Our elderly friend came to see that we were all comfortable before settling for the night, which we were glad to do early. We slept better & found our tent warmer & more roomy than we expected. By the time the wagons were in travelling order the next morning I suppose it was 8 o'clock or after, for after our's was drawn across we had to repack all the things we had used & also to alter the arrangements of the jugs & other dangerous articles, It was several days before we could place everything to our satisfaction. The sloughs seemed innumerable the 2nd day & our oxen went very badly at almost everyone, we had to have another yoke to help us through, as one of our's persisted in lying down directly it got into the mud. The way in which the poor animals were beaten & shouted at was dreadful. I think we felt as sorry when we came to another of those dreadful places as they did & just at this part I do not think there was a quarter of a mile without one & when very bad it frequently took us an hour to get through, twice during our journey the wagons had to be unloaded & the spade was often used to dig them out. By the afternoon we had reached Burnside & the oxen belonging to the man with the heaviest load were getting tired, or "played out" as the expression is in this country. They then told us they could help us no more. What to do we could not tell, we had only gone 15 miles of the 90, it seemed almost useless to think of going on, yet to return was impossible. It commenced to rain & we all felt truly miserable & when we stopped about 2 miles further on, no one helped us pitch our tent, so we had to wait until the oxen had been attended to, then my husband without help managed to do it. Unfortunately it was a very rough night & tho' the children soon fell asleep, we were awake & anxious for several hours, expecting each moment the tent would be blown away. Towards morning it became calmer & we had some much needed sleep, for my husband had walked all day, to say nothing of his exertions in endeavouring to get the oxen along & my sister & I had only been in the wagon when the mud was impossible. The next morning was fine & bright, the sunshine doing much to cheer us, we determined to push on with the rest of the party, as long as it was possible & greatly to our relief, the oxen went much better than the day before, still we dreaded every slough, & felt so thankful when we got across without help which we did the whole of the 3rd & 4th days, when we were joined by a young man with an empty wagon & a good yoke of oxen, who for the next few days helped us when we needed it, his coming took a load off our minds & we all went on more cheerfully together, & now that we were not in dread of being either deserted, or unwillingly imposing on our companions who really could ill afford to help us, we felt ourselves free to enjoy the beautiful prairie. It rained the whole of Thursday night & Friday morning, so we had a fire in the stove & did not start again until one o'clock when the weather continued fine for several days, the air being so exceptionally clear & bracing, that though my sister & I walked almost the whole of each day, we were never overtired, the Canadian ladies walk so little that our pedestrian powers were considered marvelous, we much preferred it & were charmed with the flowers with which the prairie was covered, they were as beautiful as any upon which the greatest care had been bestowed. It was too wet for the children to get out often, so we made, the bouquets in turn, each trying to make the prettiest, many of them being quite as lovely as those which grace an English dinner table. I should much like to have known their names, but they were altogether unlike I had ever seen, one plant whose leaves closely resemble the maiden hair-fern delighted us especially wild fruit trees in abundance, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, while the strawberry blossom seemed literally to cover the prairie. Saturday night we stopped at Pine Creek a hilly picturesque spot, with a deep ravine, amongst its many trees & shrubs, the fire flies were flitting prettily about, not being able to travel as quickly as we expected, I was afraid we should be short of bread & there being a house near, my husband went to try & get some. He could only have one small loaf for which he paid 20 cents. Sunday morning was particularly fine & we had a little talk with the wives of our companions, as to whether we should rest, or continue our journey, the provisions of all were getting low, for we had expected to reach Minnedosa the next day & knowing we could not possibly do so before Tuesday night, we thought it wiser to go on. By eleven o'clock we were on the Great Plains & had a quiet hour's rest under some trees, the shade was most acceptable, for the heat was greater than we had before known, the prairie was dry & clean & the children were delighted at being able to run about, the flowers & beautiful butterflies affording them great pleasure, only the little ones rode all day. At 4 o'clock we again rested & this time near some houses, in one of which some kind of service was being held. This part of the country was much more cultivated & we saw several large tracts of land planted. Here the prairie is perfectly flat & with no timber near, the latter a great drawback, but the former enables the ploughing to be done with every facility & it is from these plains that the largest crops have been harvested in the North West. That night we pitched our tents by the side of Boggy Creek, hoping to get over early next morning, unfortunately a bridge which was being built, was not completed enough for us to cross it, so we had to unload all the wagons, the oxen having all they could do to get them over empty, these went first, the water was about 4 feet deep & very cold at such an early hour. I felt quite sorry for my husband & the others who had to wade through. There was an old raft roughly constructed on which we & our goods were taken over. It did not appear any too safe, for the water was several inches deep in it & once again our feet were wet. Sunday was the only day we had been able to keep them dry, & I think that putting on wet boots each morning was the greatest trial I had, tho' we were most kindly helped over every really bad place, the men even placing their feet for us to step on, they all wore high boots & many times during the day took them off to empty the water out. Before we could start on everything had to be repacked this was always a tedious process & each morning we were quite thankful when the rugs & ulsters were in the straps & the numerous other things required for the night, safely stowed in the wagon. My husband having the oxen & now to attend to taking down the tent & seeing that nothing was left behind generally fell to our lot & we had all we could do to be ready by the time the others were, four of their party being men & more accustomed to this kind of life than ourselves. After leaving that dreadful creek we could only get on slowly & were all glad to ride a short distance, our packing was not altogether satisfactory & the children complained of not being at all comfortable, poor Ethel saying she had "only the cork of the water jug to sit on" which greatly amused us. Our oxen went very well & we hoped by Tuesday night we should get within a short distance of our destination, it was not however until Wednesday afternoon, that we found ourselves about 2 miles from the City. The last of our bread had been finished the night before & at the mid-day meal only a few biscuits were left, out of the 18 lbs. which we had started, the sloughs were frequent & my husband came almost exhausted to ask for one, the children had unknowingly eaten the last, what was to be done? A short time after the wagons were once more stuck in the mud, so my sister & I walked on & by following the trail saw Minnedosa at last in the distance, the so called City appeared to consist chiefly of tents, but we could not help admiring the pretty little place even in the thick misty rain was falling it looked like a nest amongst the hills which surrounded it. Hurrying on we came to a store & by the owner were directed to the bakery where having bought some bread we hastened back. My sister meeting the wife of one of our party, they waited until the wagons should overtake them while I walked on as quickly as I could with the loaves & found them just where we had left them, extricating the last wagon, when done they all thoroughly appreciated the bread & butter. It was nearly 7 o'clock when our wagon was drawn up on the prairie of Minnedosa as soon as possible we put up our tent & set to work to make a camp fire, of which we had had little experience as the elderly man of our company kindly did that for the whole party & was most clever in handling it without either straw or paper. The Canadians always cut "shavers" that is take a dry stick & cut it into strips. My husband was busy & my sister & I were vainly endeavouring to light a fire without the aforesaid "shavers" when a gentleman whom we afterwards found to be staying at the Canada Pacific Hotel kindly came to our aid, the baker also came to offer his assistance & between then we soon had a cheerful blaze, later in the evening an Englishman who was engaged at the saw mill came to see us & we were much amused by his asking if we were from England & on our replying in the affirmative said & "how did you leave them all?" in precisely the same tone as if we had just left his nearest & dearest. Soon after we closed our tent for the night, feeling most thankful that our long journey was safely accomplished, & that there would be no packing to do the next morning. For 10 days we had been up before 6 o'clock & travelling till it was quite dark, one day we had started at that early hour, but fortunately for us the oxen required a good deal of rest, on account of the bad state of the roads, so that we did not make such long days as I have heard of others doing.
