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

his right hand. He was noted as the last of the fur made f to
customarily to wear the ceremonial w rd. In his " Character
B k, ' Governor imp n regarded him as •'a very active
bu tling fellow who i not paring of personallabouc to forward
the intere ts of the concern .. . .Ius integrity i unq 'onabl
and I have never d . teeted him in a faJ hood wruch i more
than I can say of his associates" 185). In 1849, he left Colville
for Cumberland House. Harper prints a certificate of authenticity
wrinen by Lewes after he examined Kane' an at Fort
Colville, September 16, 1847 (329-330). Lewes was me son
of Charles Lee Lewes. a famous actor at Covent Garden and
Drury Lane theatres.
Low, Mr. Kane met Thomas Lowe (1824-1912) at Fort Vancoover
m December, 1847, but mentions him in his journal
only in the entries for October 28 - 30, 1847, when they passed
at Boat Encampment. and for May 22, 1848 , when Lowe
reached Fan Edmonton. These meetings occurred because,
although Lowe was nominally stationed in the Columbia district"
he was in, charge of the annual express brigade to York
Factory on Hudson Bay. When he left the HBC in 1850, he set
up business in Oregon City, San Francisco, and Victoria.
Iowr fort See tone on Red River /lowr fort.
Lucie, Fransway / F~ Loude Fran~is Lucie, a Cree Metis
hunter who taught Kane the fine points of bison hWlting when
Kane stayed at Fon Edmonton in December, 1841, traveled
downriver with Kane for a day in January, 1848. He has not been
further identified. In some of its inflated prose, WA recounts
Lucie's prudent refusal to allow Kane to fire at agrizzIy bear: Hit
was ten chances to one that: three balls would not kill him quick
enough to prevent a hand-to-hand encounter, a sort of amusement
that neither [Kane nor Lucie] were Quixotic enough to
desire" (266-267). See also Lefrombeys.
Lone narrows See Lake Winapcg.
Macanac Mackinac Island, western Lake Huron, where the fur
trade had been established in the early eighteenth century, and
where a settlement had succeeded forts by the time of Kane's
visits, served as a rendezvous where the United Saares Government
armuaUy made its payments to the Ojibwa and Onawa
tribes. Kane spent three weeks there on his trip of 1845 (see
Inrroduction), as weU as his whisde stop in May, 1846.
Mcbane, Mr. William McBean, a Metis, had joined the HBC in
1828 and was the Chief Trader stationed at Fort Walla Walla, or
Nez Perce, from 1846 until 1851 , when be retired from the
service. Like John Lee Lewes (see ~, Mr.), McBean
supplied Kane with a certificate of authenticity respecting his art
(Harper [328]). Also in 1847, he met John Mix Stanley, the
American painter who narrowly escaped death at the Whitman
mission massacre. According to Governor Simpson's "Owacter
Book, " McBean would have been about forty years of age in
1847, when Kane met him; " Writes a fair hand and \Ulde:mands
common accounts which is the extent of his Education. Neither
bright nor useful ' ~ (232).
McKi.osey, M See McKimey, Mr./tbe Majer/the Mager.
McKinsey, Mr /tJre Majer I the Mager There is a strong possibility
that M McKinsey is Major Mc.l(imey, and that the Mc­
Kinseys brigade includes the Major, his wife, aod his daughter.
Thus all the McKinseys listed here refer to the same man, HBC
78
cleric Donald MCKenzie (ft. 1818- 1850), and . 3mily. In
making an ironical reference the M . r' courage on Lake
Winnipeg, Kane ms to have ized up this man ' t the fur
trade did. Indeed, judging by Governor impson' " ''-IloiIlIlII..4,1;;.
B k" portrait of MCKenzi , the epilhet of " Ma· r'" i
ironical: •• A hman about 45 Years f Ag [in 1832, thus
about sixty when Kane met him in 1848] ... Tolly well
Educared and has an imposing Manner and address but a trifling
useless superficial feUow who can Drink. & pilfer and rarely
speaks the truth. Was a Lieu~ [not a Major] in the Army but
[was] Sent to Coventry' and liged to Sell out having hewn
the 'White feather'. A blustering Cowardly poltroon who .
retained in the Service through mere charity" (221 .
MCKenzie was tationed at Rar Portage in 1848. When Kme
just missed catching the next brigade there, perhaps M[ajor]
McKinsey [Mc Kenzie J continued past his post to help him .ca!Ch
up. The Major tetired to the Red River SeaJemenl in I SO.
The Mr. M~ Kinzey whom Kane met at Fort William in ay,
1846 could have been either James MCKenzie, a son of the
Major. who was a postmaster stationed in the Rainy River
district at the time, or Hector MCKenzie, who w stationed at
Fort William until 1845. but whose cmJers list him aI post on the
Ottawa River the next year, perhaps the oIde were tponed
or did oot reach this MCKenzie in time for him to carry them out
W1til the next season.
TIle Mr. McKinzey whose arrival Kane was awaiting at Boat
Encampment in October, 1847, tm not been further identified.
Given the Major's duties at Rar Portage and his n sin the
Rainy River district, it seems very doubtfulthal either would
have been rraveling west across the Rocky Mountains in thaI
month. Hector MCKenzie was even farther east, in the Ottawa
River district. Yet, no other MCKenzie/MacKenrie W1dcr c0ntract
to the JiBe in 1841 was stationed in any of the western
districts or in the 'Saskatchewan.
M£ Kimey/McKimey, Mrs. and dugbter These are 'the relatives
of Major MCKenzie whom Kane met at Slave Falls,
Winnipeg River, August 9- 10, 1848, and by whom he \Va
Guide