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Chapter 10: Harvest Home
The second week in October our house was sufficiently finished for us to go into it & on the 13th we left the little shanty to go a mile further north where we might almost say "So far I live to the Northward no man lives North of me" there being no settlers beyond. We found that until we had more piping our stove could not be put up, so my husband & I went to Minnedosa the next day, leaving my sister, the children & a cousin who had lately joined us, with only the camp stove. We wished if possible to return that evening & in order to do so, we were up & at breakfast before 5 o'clock, but it was raining & we had to wait an hour before we were able to start. It was quite cold & our slow mode of traveling was very tedious & I thought how amused our friends in England would be to hear the "Haw & Gee" with which words the oxen are driven, the latter meaning to the right, the former to the left, no reins ever being used, though a stout stick is indispensable. It took us 4 hours to reach our destination & the weather did not improve & by the time we reached the Hotel, the wind was very rough & it still rained slightly, which was particularly unfortunate as this day was fixed for the "Harvest Home" & the Lieut. Gov. Laird was paying his first visit to the town. The changes which had taken place since July were so great that I scarcely recognized the little Minnedosa as I first saw it 4 months before. The tents were of course gone, & a large Hotel & many houses had been built on this side of the river, on the opposite where formerly the saw mill had been the only building, there were now 5 large stores & several houses & upon going into the former I found I could procure anything I required though the price was necessarily high, as most of the store keepers have their goods from Montreal & the long distance by rail as well as the custom duties, everything having to come through the States, added to the cost of freighting them from Winnipeg, makes everything costly before it reaches us. Another building which I had not heard of before was the Victoria Hall a spacious room with an alcove at one end, built for entertainments & also used for the Presbyterian service, today it was prettily decorated with corn & suitable mottoes. As the weather prevented the festivities being held out of doors as was intended, long tables were placed down each side of the room & when I went in were prettily arranged for a substantial meal. The way in which the Harvest Home is managed, is I think charming, every one takes a basket of something suitable either cold chicken, ham, cakes of which there was every variety, butter, cream, or bread as may be most convenient, these are given into the care of a committee of ladies appointed to receive the contributions & to arrange the table, even the bachelors I am told do not come empty handed & certainly I thought the tables were beautifully supplied with all that could be wished for. My husband had some business to transact which prevented our returning home that afternoon so I was glad to be able to remain & hear the speeches & join the friendly gathering. We were amongst the first to have tea, which commenced on the arrival of the Lieut. Gov., Judge Ryan & other gentlemen. The committee were most energetic in waiting upon everyone & the tables were 3 times replenished & surrounded by fresh faces, altogether I should imagine 200 people were assembled by the time that the tables were removed & the address from the inhabitants presented to his lordship, who replied in a long speech. He spoke most encouragingly of this country & looked forward to the day when the "great lone land" should become the granary of the world. Many other speeches followed all tending to show how rapid had been the settling of this once uninhabited country & how quickly towns of importance were springing up in every direction & especially commenting on the improvement made in Minnedosa, since the first Harvest Home held the year before. It was not until it was getting dark that we dispersed, in the evening there was a dance in the Hall which everyone seemed to have enjoyed. We stayed that night at the Saskatchewan House & found everything well managed & comfortable. My husband was up early & before breakfast came in to tell me he had bought another cow of which I was very glad, although it did not add to the enjoyment of the journey home, for like the one in the summer, she strongly objected to being tied behind the wagon & I had to lead her, it was bitterly cold, as we were facing a north wind the whole way & we were 6 hours walking the 15 miles, the oxen having a heavy load. My sister & cousin were especially glad to see us, as the small stove remitted so little heat & since the wind had changed they had suffered much from the cold. The next few weeks were spent in making our little home as comfortable as possible. It had none of the finishing touches considered necessary in England & when we went into it there was neither staircase shelves or cupboards altogether it looked bare & unhomelike, but the vicissitudes of the past 5 months made us feel only too thankful to be at last in a house we could consider our own. We had not been able to grow any vegetables so my husband had bought a large quantity of potatoes which with the turnips & carrots had to be stored in the cellar under the house, then the outside had to have an embankment of soil round about three feet high to prevent the frost getting in, the entrance to the cellar is through a trap door in the floor & it seemed most curious at first to see people disappear down these queer little places whenever anything was required as the cellar is frequently used as a larder & pantry. The weather was now becoming winterly & the ducks of which we had had as many as my husband could find time to shoot were gone southward & all the birds excepting Prairie chicken & the little snow birds & some other grey bird whose name I do not know. The frost was severe & incessant so that we began to wish for our winter clothes & especially for our beds blankets, & other things conducive to comfort; my husband arranged with a freighter to bring it & each week we were hoping it would arrive. There was no snow & one day the end of Oct. my sister & cousin walked to Minnedosa, where a very good entertainment was given that evening in the Victoria Hall to which they went & returned the next day, having walked 30 miles & though tired the following day they were otherwise none the worse. November was still colder than the previous month & every one was clad in their fur coats, & caps, & once more we made arrangements for our boxes to be brought from Portage la Prairie. The first man had taken them that far, but the roads being good had left them, again we were disappointed & Dec 6th my husband started with his oxen & sleigh to fetch them himself. I did not quite like his going, as he had not any warm clothes & though not extremely cold then, I feared it might be before he returned. A distance of 160 miles with oxen would be thought a dreadful journey in England, with the thermometer 15º below zero, but here so many gain their livelihood by freighting flour & other commodities to every part of the country some going from Portage la Prairie to Edmonton a distance of 900 miles; still it was not without some anxiety that I saw my husband start that winter morning for his comparatively short trip, his sleigh he was obliged to exchange for a wagon, one of our neighbours persuading him to do so, as the snow was only a few inches deep but he had been afraid of a deep snow coming while he was away & did not know which it was best to take.
On reaching Portage he found it necessary to go to Winnipeg which delayed him a few days. The first week passed pleasantly to us, the weather was lovely more like a very fine English Feb. than Dec in Canada. We could sit with the windows or door open & the children ran out with only their hoods & gloves on. The first Sunday we were alone, as the Presbyterian service was to be held at a house about 4 miles off, my sister & I determined to go, it was a most beautiful day & as we did not know the way, we started early & after a very circuitous route found ourselves at the right place just in time, it was however nearly dark when the service was over, & we started back at once thinking those who lived in the same direction would be sure to follow & that we should have no difficulty in finding our way home, we tried as much as possible to avoid the mistakes we had make in going but alas! Only to make worse, for 2 hours we wandered first in one direction, then in another, vainly hoping to see a light in some of the houses near, but it became quite dark & the only thing to be done was to retrace our steps if possible, so many people have been lost & obliged to sleep out all night, that I was really alarmed & it began to snow which increased our trouble. We did however find our way back to a house, & the owner most kindly walked nearly to our house with us, he said my cousin had been to enquire for us, & a few minutes after we left him we met my cousin & a friend again coming in search of us, he & the children had been quite uneasy at our non-appearance, & he had hung out a light & fired a gun to guide us, as the trails are all so exactly alike in the snow & so numerous, that makes it most puzzling, we never again attempted to walk alone. The end of this week we began looking for my husbands return but it was not until the following Tuesday that he did so, bringing with him a younger brother of our friend at Gladstone, with whom he had staid both going & returning. This was the 21st & most fortunately the mail was in & we had the pleasure of receiving a large packet of Christmas letters & cards, those who have the post-man coming every morning cannot realize the delight which this is to those living in such an isolated country. Even the cards themselves seemed to afford twice the pleasure they did in England & our's was a very excited little household that night, between hearing my husband's account of his journey & reading the closely written letters which brought such kind wishes from those so far away. I am afraid we almost forgot our guest, but this was his first Xmas away from home too, so I think he readily forgave us. My husband's journey had proved pleasant & satisfactory, one of his purchases rather amused us, it was a pig killed & frozen & when standing up as we first saw it, it looked most extraordinary, all kinds of animals are killed the beginning of the winter & when frozen keep good until spring, which is a great convenience, ducks, turkeys, & geese are killed & sent in bags by hundreds into this country from Ontario & the States. At this season the Indians are engaged in hunting the deer of which there are large herds further north & plenty of venison could be obtained of them or at the stores where they chiefly sold it, it is different in flavour to our English venison but particularly tender & juicy. Prairie chicken too were plentiful at this time, they do not go away during the winter & are very nice, also the partridge but this is more like grouse, the meat being dark in colour & not so delicate to eat as the chickens. The rabbits like the birds & foxes turn white during these months & though their tracks are very numerous they are rarely seen wired than shot, they are considerably larger than in England, their shoulders & haunches resembling a hare but the flavour is different to either & the meat is dark. Many of the Indians employ their time in killing the muskrat which live by thousands on the large lakes, one of the store keepers at Minnedosa bought thousands last winter at 7 cents each, they are shipped in large numbers to England & I expect that much which is sold as seal skin really grew on the backs of these little creatures. As there are several lakes beyond us we frequently had a visit from an Indian, who with his gun or spear for killing the rats would open the door & walk in, seat himself by the stove & generally try to carry on a little conversation but it was always useless & we could only give him something to eat & some tea of which they are very fond, one of them asked for tobacco, but as a rule they carry this with their pipes in a long bag made of coloured calico, after lighting their pipe which they invariably did directly they had finished their meal, they went out of the house as quietly as they entered. One day when I thought their visits were becoming too frequent I did not at once offer our self invited guest any refreshment so the poor man sat by the stove for sometime quite motionless, then taking a needle from his long bag he pointed to a hole in his moccasin & I gave him some thread or sinew to mend it, which he did & when he had finished he began making some unintelligable signs for a time, I could not understand what he wanted, but at last he pointed to the East, then to where the sun was now shining & finally opening his mouth put his finger into it by which we gathered he had not any breakfast & my sister said, "You want something to eat" & he said "Yes" at which we laughed & so did he, & he seemed very pleased when we gave him some bread & butter & tea. Altogether our Indian visitors have behaved so pleasantly that I have quite lost my fear of them & do not in the least mind their unceremonious style of coming & going, they have so far been extremely well mannered & have not the objectionable habit of spitting on the floor so common in Canada & the States & which is exceedingly irritating to our English ideas of cleanliness, neither have they ever attempted to touch anything but what was given to them. The men hunt & fish but all kind of work is done by the squaws. I have seen them chop a large pile of wood while the men stand looking on, they are very clever in tanning skins or cleaning shaggy-nappy suits which are made of deer or Buffalo hide & are the most durable as well as the warmest clothes for this country, when new they resemble a thick chamois leather & are soft & pleasant to wear. Shaggy-nappy is however a term used for many things indigenous to the North West. The native ponies are Shaggy-nappies & a piece of raw hide is a piece of Shaggy-nappy. It seems used to denote anything strong.
