Two months in the Camp of Big Bear | Page 2

business and comfort and endured the hardships
incident to a soldier's life, in order to vindicate the law. And to the
noble men and women who planned for the comfort and supplied the
wants of the gallant band who had so nobly responded to the call of
duty and cry for help. And I gladly embrace this opportunity of
showing to the public and especially the ladies, my appreciation of their
kindness and sympathy in my bereavement, and their noble and
disinterested efforts for my release. In undertaking a task which has no
pleasures for me, and has been accomplished under the most trying
difficulties and with the greatest physical suffering, I have embodied in

the narrative a few of the manners and customs of Indians, the leading
features of the country, only sufficient to render it clear and intelligible.
I make no apology for issuing this volume to the public as their
unabated interest make it manifest that they desire it, and I am only
repaying a debt of gratitude by giving a truthful narrative to correct
false impressions, for their kindness and sympathy to me.
I trust the public will receive the work in the spirit in which it is given
and any literary defects which it may have, and I am sure there are
many, may be overlooked, as I am only endeavoring to rectify error,
instead of aspiring to literary excellence. I express my sincere and
heartfelt thanks to the half-breeds who befriended me during my
captivity, and to the friends and public generally who sheltered and
assisted me in many ways and by many acts of kindness and sympathy,
and whose attention was unremitting until I had reached my
destination.
And now I must bid the public a grateful farewell and seek my wished
for seclusion from which I would never have emerged but to perform a
public duty.
THERESA GOWANLOCK.

MRS. GOWANLOCK
CHAPTER I.
WE LEAVE ONTARIO.
We left my father's house at Tintern on the 7th of October, 1884,
having been married on the 1st, for Parkdale, where we spent a few
days with my husband's friends. We started for our home on the 10th
by the Canadian Pacific Railway to Owen Sound, thence by boat to
Port Arthur, and then on to Winnipeg by rail, where we stopped one
night, going on the next day to Regina. We only stopped in that place
one day, taking rail again to Swift Current, arriving there the same day.

This ended our travel by the locomotion of steam.
After taking in a supply of provisions we made a start for Battleford,
distant 195 miles, by buckboard over the prairie, which stretches out
about 130 miles in length, and for the remaining 55 miles there are
clumps of trees or bluffs as they are called, scattered here and there.
Our journey over this part was very pleasant, the weather was fine and
the mode of travelling, which was new to me, delightful. Our company,
consisted in addition to ourselves, of only one person, Mr. Levalley, a
gentleman from Ottawa. We passed four nights under canvas. The
journey was not a lonely one, the ships of the prairie were continually
on the go, we passed several companies of freighters with harnessed
oxen, half-breeds and Indians. It was also full of incident and adventure;
on one occasion, when cooking our tea, we set fire to the prairie,
although we worked hard to put it out, it in a very few minutes spread
in a most alarming manner, and entirely beyond our control, and we let
it go looking on enjoying the scene. Upon nearing Battleford a number
of half-famished squaws came to us begging for something to eat, but
we were not in a position, unfortunately, to supply their wants, on
account of our larder having run dry. We entered Battleford on the 19th
of October.
The town of Battleford is situated on the Battle river. The old on one
side, the new on the other, in the direction of the fort. When the Indians
plundered that place it was the town on the south bank. The houses on
the opposite bank were protected by the guns at the fort. My husband
had a store on the north bank in the direction of the fort.
The town is very scattered, covering a large area of ground, it is verily
a place of distances and quite in keeping with the north-west generally.
There are a few fine houses in the place, notably, the industrial home
for Indian children and the residence of Judge Rolleau.
CHAPTER II.
INCIDENTS AT BATTLEFORD
I remained at Battleford six weeks, while my husband went to Frog

Creek, (where he had thirteen men working on the house and mills,)
and while there I became initiated into the