I Have Also Gone From Crow Wing,
Beyond The Head Waters Of The Mississippi, To The Waters Of The
Hudson's Bay, On Foot And Without Snow-Shoes.
I spent one entire
winter travelling through that region, and never found the snow over
eighteen inches deep, and seldom over nine inches.
"For several years I had trading-posts extending from Lake Superior to
the Red River of the North, from 46 degrees to 49 degrees north
latitude, and never found the snow so deep as to prevent supplies
being transported from one post to another with horses. One winter,
north of Crow Wing, say 47 degrees north latitude, I wintered about
sixty head of horses and cattle without giving them food of any kind
except such as they could procure themselves under the snow. Between
the 45th and 49th degrees north latitude, the snow does not fall so
deep as it does between the 40th and 45th degrees; this is easily
accounted for upon the same principle that in the fall they have
frosts much earlier near the 40th than they do near the 45th degree. I
say this in reference to the country watered by the Mississippi River.
Owing to its altitude the atmosphere is dry beyond belief, which
accounts for the absence of frosts in the fall, and for the small
quantity of snow that falls in a country so far north. Voyageurs
traverse the territory from Lake Superior to the Missouri the entire
winter with horses and sleds, having to make their own roads, and yet
with heavy loads are not detained by snow. Lumbermen in great numbers
winter in the pine regions of Minnesota with their teams, and I have
never heard of their finding the snow too deep to prosecute their
labors. I have known several winters when the snow at no time was over
six inches deep."
The Hon. H. H. Sibley, ex-delegate from Minnesota, in a letter dated
at Mendota says: "As our country is for the most part composed of
prairie, it is of course much exposed to the action of the winds. It
is, however, a peculiarity of our climate, that calms prevail during
the cold weather of the winter months; consequently, the snow does not
drift to anything like the extent experienced in New England or
northern New York. I have never believed that railroad communication
in this territory would be seriously impeded by the depth or drift of
snow, unless, perhaps, in the extreme northern portion of it." (See
Explorations and Surveys for the Pacific Railroad, I., 400.)
A few facts in regard to the people who live four or five hundred
miles to the north, will best illustrate the nature of the climate and
its adaptedness to agriculture.
It is common to say that settlements have not extended beyond Crow
Wing. This is only technically true. There is a settlement at Pembina,
where the dividing line between British America and the United States
crosses the Red River of the North. It didn't extend there from our
frontier, sure enough. If it extended from anywhere it must have been
from the north, or along the confines of that mystic region called
Rainy Lake. Pembina is said to have about 600 inhabitants. It is
situated on the Pembina River. It is an Indian-French word meaning
cranberry. Men live there who were born there, and it is in fact an
old settlement. It was founded by British subjects, who thought they
had located on British soil. The greater part of its inhabitants are
half-breeds, who earn a comfortable livelihood in fur hunting and in
farming. It sends two representatives and a councillor to the
territorial legislature. It is 460 miles north-west of St. Paul, and
330 miles distant from this town. Notwithstanding the distance, there
is considerable communication between the places. West of Pembina,
about thirty miles, is a settlement called St. Joseph, situated N. of
a large mythological body of water called Miniwakan, or Devil's Lake;
and is one of the points where Col. Smith's expedition was intending
to stop. This expedition to which I refer, started out from Fort
Snelling in the summer, to explore the country on both sides of the
Red River of the North as far as Pembina, and to report to the war
department the best points for the establishment of a new military
post. It is expected that Col. Smith will return by the first of next
month; and it is probable he will advise the erection of a post at
Pembina. When that is done, if it is done, its effect will be to draw
emigrants from the Red River settlement into Minnesota.
Now let me say a word about this Red River of the North, for it is
beginning to be a great feature in this upper country. It runs north,
and empties into Lake Winnipeg, which connects with Hudson's Bay by
Nelson River. It is a muddy and sluggish stream, navigable to the
mouth of Sioux Wood River for vessels of three feet draught for four
months in the year. So that the extent of its navigation within the
territory alone (between Pembina and the mouth of Sioux Wood River) is
417 miles. Buffaloes still feed on its western banks. Its tributaries
are numerous and copious, abounding with the choicest kinds of game,
and skirted with a various and beautiful foliage. It cannot be many
years before this magnificent valley shall pour its products into our
markets, and be the theatre of a busy and genial life.
One of the first things which drew my attention to this river was a
sight of several teams travelling towards this vicinity from a
north-westerly direction. I observed that the complexion of those in
the caravan was a little darker than that of pure white Minnesotians,
and that the carts were a novelty. "Who are those people? and where
are they from?" I inquired of a friend. "They are Red River people,
just arrived they have come down to trade." Their carts are made to
be drawn by one animal, either an ox or a horse, and are put together
without the use of a particle of iron.
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