Snow Shoes and Canoes

Shoes and Canoes, by William H.
G. Kingston

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Title: Snow Shoes and Canoes The Early Days of a Fur-Trader in the
Hudson Bay Territory
Author: William H. G. Kingston
Illustrator: Norman Little
Release Date: May 15, 2007 [EBook #21478]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SNOW
SHOES AND CANOES ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

Snow Shoes and Canoes; The Early Days of a Fur-Trader in the
Hudson Bay Territory, by William H G Kingston.

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The basic story-line is that there is a fort in the Hudson Bay Territory
that needs some stores and materials to be sent to it from another fort
about 150 miles away. The journey could be done by canoe, but there
are none available at this time. So a party of people are sent overland
to fetch what is required.
There are encounters with bears and other dangerous animals; there
are times when they are very hungry and very tired. They encounter
both friendly and unfriendly Indians. They borrow canoes at one stage,
and have wrecks in the mighty rapids.
There are strong overtones indicating that Kingston has read the
authentic books by Ballantyne, who had worked in the Hudson Bay
Company, and whose letters home had set off his literary career. But
Kingston has a unique style of his own, and he was good at research,
so he can be forgiven for using valuable authentic material to help him
get his facts right, and make his story credible.
About 10.5 hours to read aloud.
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SNOW SHOES AND CANOES, THE EARLY DAYS OF A
FUR-TRADER IN THE HUDSON BAY TERRITORY, BY WILLIAM H
G KINGSTON.
CHAPTER ONE.
BLACK FORT--THE PACK-HORSE TRAIN SETS OUT--SANDY
MCTAVISH'S SAGACITY-- THE NIGHT-WATCH--THE TWO
REDSKIN HORSE-THIEVES--A SNOWSTORM--AN
UNCOMFORTABLE BED AND A TERRIBLE NIGHT--MY
DELIGHT AT FINDING MY HORSE ALIVE--WE OBTAIN
SHELTER IN A WOOD--DESPERATE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN A

LYNX AND AN EAGLE FOR THE POSSESSION OF A
HARE--THE HARE BECOMES MY PRIZE-- THE UNTIMELY
APPEARANCE OF A WOLF.
The short summer of the North-West Territory of British America, the
region in which the events I am about to describe took place, was
rapidly drawing to a close.
I had been sent from Black Fort, of which my elder brother Alick had
charge, with Sandy McTavish, an old follower of our father's, and two
other men, to bring up ammunition and other stores as a winter supply
from Fort Ross, about 150 miles off--a distance, however, of which we
did not think much.
The stores ought to have been brought up the greater part of the way by
the Saskatchewan, but a canoe had been lost in ascending the rapids,
and no other was at that time to be procured to replace her. It became
necessary, therefore, at all costs to transport the required stores by land.
We had eight pack-horses, besides the four animals my companions
and I rode.
We were all well armed, for though the Crees and other Indian tribes in
the northern part of the territory were generally friendly, we might
possibly encounter a party of Blackfeet on the war-trail who, should
they find us unprepared, would to a certainty attack us, and endeavour
to steal our horses and goods. We were but few in number for such an
undertaking, but no more men could be spared. Sandy, however, was a
host in himself. He thoroughly knew all the Indian ways, and from his
long experience was well able to counteract them.
Many an evening, while seated at our camp-fire or at the stove in the
fort, during winter, has he beguiled the time with accounts of his
hairbreadth escapes and desperate encounters with the redskins. He had
no enmity towards them, notwithstanding the attempts they had made
on his life.
"They were but following the instincts of their savage natures," he used
to observe; "and they were not ower weel pleased with the white men

for hunting in the country which they call theirs, though it must be
allowed they dinna make gude use of it."
Sandy was as humane as he was brave, and I am very sure he never
took the life of an Indian if he could avoid doing so with due regard to
his own safety. He had come out from Scotland when a mere boy with
our father, who was at that time a clerk in the Hudson's Bay Company,
but who had ultimately risen to be