Paul Kane's Journal of his Western Travels, 1846-1848 - History and ...

I • La
hed (" Otter Head" in WA [313]) remains unidentified but
would seem t be on Black Island; ,imilarly unidentified is
point mitass (" Point Mille Lac " in WA [313]).
lane / Lane, Mr Kane traveled with two men named Lane: William
Aetcher Lane, from , ort William to Fort Alexander May
25 to JWle II, 1846; and Richard Lane, who was in charge of
Kane's party from Norway House to Fort Edmonton and
continued with Kane aU the way to Fort Vancouver August 14
to December 8, 1846.
William Fletcher Lane (b . c. 1794) worked in the fur trade
intennittently from 1820 until 1863. Not particuJarly disposed
toward Iri hmen, Governor Simpson considered him in his
"Character Book" a "low Drunken Worthless fellow who
... i very active and can rum his hand to any thing but such a
blackguard that he disgraces the Service" (216). Concerned
about possible reprisals from Lane, however, Simpson did not
discharge him; rather he regularly posted him to the most
remote stations in the fur trade empire. Lane periodically
retired in disgust, ,and rejoined, always al a decreased salary .
When Kane met him on the Kaministikwia River, Lane was
being reinstated after a brief retirement, am was headed for
Peel River, in today's Yukon Territory. WA reports that "he
had ani ved at his post almost starved to death, after travelling
about 700 miles on snow-shoes through the depth of wmter"
(46).
Richard Lane ( 1816- 1877) was a clerk in the HBC when
Kane knew him and his bride. He had joined the fur trade in
1821, serving in the Red River district until 1845. when he
moved to the Colwnbia Department, traveling west with the
artist/spy Henry James Warre (see author's essay). In June,
1846, he returned to Fort Garry to marry Mary McDennot.
Their honeymoon was the western trip with Kane to Fort
Vancouver, where Lane delivered not only the written confirmation
of the Oregon Boundary dispute's final settlement,
which had been concluded at Washington, D.C., only in June,
but also the annual payment of furs from the HBC to the
Russian government, which ensured the HBC's continued
privilege of trading along the Pacific Ocean in Russian territory.
Lane remained at Fort Vancouver and was elected judge for
Vancouver County on June 7, 1847. He resigned from the
HBC in 1851, a year after moving to Oregon City, where he
became a merchant. His resignation occurred under a shadow
of dubious business practices. In laler life, he became a lawyer
but also an alcoholic, eventually committing suicide at The
Dalles in 1877.
La Shute/Sbotes/Shoots Presumably, les Chutes or the
Chutes or HeU Gate Rapids, this feature on the lower Columbia
River occurs near modem Wisram, Washington, whe,re the
Deschutes River (Oregon) joins the Columbia. It is not to be
confused with "Great Shoots, " the name given by Lewis and
Clade to the Cascades. See also the Dalh.
Lefrombeys This voyageur, whose name was perhaps Laframboise,
a more common name at Red River. has not been further
identified. Like the names of Lucie, Montrose, PeUaw, Prew,
and Sanschay. Lefrombey's does not appear on HBe roll of
men who signed service contracts with the company.
Le grose point A less common name for any of the rapids on the
Columbia River, this one may ~ following the apparent downriver
order of the list in which it appears, be either the lower
Little or the Upper Little Dalles of the upper (not lower)
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Colwnbia River. This wouJd place it either just upriver or just
dowruiver of the Arrow Lakes.
Ie Rocks prarey lie Rocks prarie Larocque's Prairie, also
called Prairie de la Vache, was named f, rChiefTrader Joseph
Rocque (1787- 1866). It stood on the east side of the
Athabasca River approximately halfway between the mouth of
the Whirlpool River (see Grand Travers) to the south, and the
townsite of modem Jasper to the north. It supplied brigades
with level camping, and, more important, forage for the horses
used to cross Athabasca Pass.
littee DaDs These are the Lower Linle Dalles on the upper·
Columbia River, about twenty miles upriver of Kettle Falls but
below the Arrow Lakes. Kane passed them on September 23,
1847 . WA calls them "the narrowest part of the Columbia
River for full one thousand mile . It is here contracted into a
passage of one hundred and fifty yards by lofty rocks" (226).
This asse ment appears to forget about The Dalles, on the
lower Columbia, which were not 1000 miles away.
little DaDs Upper Little Dalles, as it was also known, lay, in
contrast to Lower Little Dalles, upriver of the Arrow Lakes, at
the site of modem Revelstoke, Briti h Columbia. WA describes
it as "a very long rapid shoot of three or four miles" (299).
little dog portage On the Kaministikwia River north of Fort
William, this portage into Little Dog Lake was still traceable in
the 1960s.
little dog river lbis is probably Jourdain Creek, up which the
brigades struggled to the height of land between Lake Superior
and Lake Winnipeg (Hudson Bay). It flows mto Dog River and
thence to Dog Lake. TIle small lake that Kane subsequently
mentions is probably tiny Cold Water Lake.
little ~ See Lake Winapeg.
little portage This portage occurred oddly in the middle of Lake
of the Woods, at the Aulneau peninsula, where low water
occasionally would make necessary a carry over a barely
submerged island.
little rock Like all the rapids and falls below Lac du Bonnet
on the Winnipeg River, this one, normally called Petit Rocher,
and its portage no longer exist.
long ~ See a valley called Iong~.
lost IDem portage Like that of pin portage, the whereabouts of
this portage cannot be determined today. because of the
changes that the Kaministikwia River valley has llndergone as
a consequence of hydroelectric developments. Moreover, for
some reason, names of features OIl this stretch of the river often
varied; no two fur trade narratives agree entirely about them.
Loucie, Fransis See Lucie, Framway.
lAu, Mr. The Mr. Louis mentioned on July I, 1847, at Fort
Vancouver and the Mr. Louis mentioned on August 6, 1847, at
Fort Colville are one and the same. Kane first met OtiefTrader
John Lee Lewes (1791 - 1872) at Fort Colville November
20 - 23, 1846. Although Lewes was a veteran chief trader in
the Columbia district, he was at Colville only a few years,
following five years at Fort Simpson, on the upper Mackenzie
River, where, during a gun accident in 1843, he had blown off
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