The Drama of the Forests | Page 8

the trader followed
the Indian, and the official "explorer" followed the trader, and the
engineer followed the "explorer," and the railroad contractor followed
the engineer. It was the buffalo, the deer, the bear, and the wolf who
were our original transcontinental path-finders, or rather pathmakers.

Then, too, the praise bestowed upon the pioneer fur traders for the
excellent judgment shown in choosing the sites upon which trading
posts have been established throughout Canada, has not been deserved;
the credit is really due to the Indians. The fur traders erected their posts
or forts upon the tribal camping grounds simply because they found
such spots to be the general meeting places of the Indians, and not only
situated on the principal highways of the wilderness but accessible
from all points of the surrounding country, and, moreover, the very
centres of excellent fish and game regions. Thus in Canada many of the
ancient tribal camping grounds are now known by the names of trading
posts, of progressive frontier towns, or of important cities.
Now, as of old, the forest Indians after their winter's hunt return in the
early summer to trade their catch of furs, to meet old friends, and to rest
and gossip awhile before the turning leaf warns them to secure their
next winter's "advances" from the trader, and once more paddle away to
their distant hunting grounds.
The several zones of the Canadian wilderness are locally known as the
Coast Country--the shores of the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay; the
Barren Grounds--the treeless country between Hudson Bay and the
Mackenzie River; the Strong Woods Country--the whole of that
enormous belt of heavy timber that spans Canada from east to west; the
Border Lands--the tracts of small, scattered timber that lie between the
prairies and the northern forests; the Prairie Country; the Mountains;
and the Big Lakes. These names have been adopted by the fur traders
from the Indians. It is in the Strong Woods Country that most of the
fur-bearing animals live.
MEETING OO-KOO-HOO
About ten o'clock on the morning after our arrival at Fort Consolation,
Free Trader Spear left for home with my promise to paddle over and
dine at Spearhead next day.
At noon Factor Mackenzie informed me that he had received word that
Oo-koo-hoo--The Owl--was coming to the Fort that afternoon and that,
taking everything into consideration, he thought Oo-koo-hoo's hunting

party the best for me to join. It consisted, he said, of Oo-koo-hoo and
his wife, his daughter, and his son-in-law, Amik--The Beaver--and
Amik's five children. The Factor further added that Oo-koo-hoo was
not only one of the greatest hunters, and one of the best canoe-men in
that district, but in his youth he had been a great traveller, as he had
hunted with other Indian tribes, on Hudson Bay, on the Churchill, the
Peace, the Athabasca, and the Slave rivers, and even on the far-away
Mackenzie; and was a master at the game. His son-in-law, Amik, was
his hunting partner. Though Amik would not be home until to-morrow,
Oo-koo-hoo and his wife, their daughter and her children were coming
that afternoon to get their "advances," as the party contemplated
leaving for their hunting grounds on the second day. That I might look
them over while they were getting their supplies in the Indian shop, and
if I took a fancy to the old gentleman--who by the way was about sixty
years of age--the trader would give me an introduction, and I could then
make my arrangements with the hunter himself. So after dinner, when
word came that they had landed, I left the living room for the Indian
shop.
In the old days, in certain parts of the country, when the Indians came
to the posts to get their "advances" or to barter their winter's catch of
fur, the traders had to exercise constant caution to prevent them from
looting the establishments. At some of the posts only a few Indians at a
time were allowed within the fort, and even then trading was done
through a wicket. But that applied only to the Plains Indians and to
some of the natives of the Pacific Coast; for the Strong Woods people
were remarkably honest. Even to-day this holds good notwithstanding
the fact that they are now so much in contact with white men.
Nowadays the Indians in any locality rarely cause trouble, and at the
trading posts the business of the Indian shops is conducted in a quiet
and orderly way.
The traders do most of their bartering with the Indians in the early
summer when the hunters return laden with the spoils of their winter's
hunt. In the early autumn, when the Indians are about to leave for their
hunting grounds, much business is done, but little in the way of barter.
At that season