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

the date wilen Kane hears the story, or 1859, the date of the
book's publication, is uncertain. MCMillan was in the Colwnbia
Department as a North West Company tradelj after the merger of
1821, he remained there until .825, when he was posted to Fort
Assiniboine, on the Athabasca River. He did no( return to the
Columbia district after that time.
McTavBb, Mr. William Mactavish (1815 - 1870) was to become
the most storied of the fur trade factors whom Kane
met. In 1848, Mactavish, who had apprenticed with the
HBC in 1833, and who had spent every year since then at
York Factory, was moving to Sault Sainte Marie; hence
his trip wirh Kane. Until 1858, Mactavish enjoyed a fine
career as a factor and Cbief Trader. Once he was forced
into an administrative role as Governor of Assiniboia (Red
River), however, he took on a complexity of l"eS(X>mibilities
which he never mastered. In 1869- 1870, suffering
from wberculosis, no doubt brought on in part by all those
years spent in York Factory's "dismal . .. climate and
country" (WA (321)), he was imprisoned by Louis Riel's
Metis provisional government. Released in the spring, he
sailed to England but died two days after reaching Liverpool.
the Majer/the Mager See McKimey, Mr I the Majer /tbe
Mager.
Manson, Mr Donald Chief Trader Donald Manson (1796-
1880) joined the HBC in 1817. An energetic, active personality,
Manson manned, at one time or another, nearly all
the remote HBC posts in inland and coastal New Caledonia
(northern British Columbia) district. In his "Character
Book, "Governor Simpson estimated him as a "stout
strong active Man well adapted for Opposition, exploring
Service or any other duty requiring strength and activity.
Qualified for the charge of a Post and has influence both
with Indians and Servants, but deficient in Education and
cannOl be left to the exercise of his own judgement in any
matter requiring head work" (221). In 1857, he retired to
the Willamerte River valley, taking up farming. In early
July, 1847, when Kane traveled with him from Fort Vancouver
up the Columbia to Fort Walla Walla, Manson was
en route to Fort St. James, Stuart Lake. The site in northern
inland British Columbia is a town today, bearing the
same name.
Mary Dare The HBC pW'Chased this 149-ton brigantine in
1846. It arrived at Fort Victoria on May 23, 1847, under the
command of James Allen Scarborough, and served for
seven years in a triangular route, from Victoria to the
Sandwich Islands and back to Fort Vancouver. The HBC
sold the Mary Dare in 1854.
Maioo, Mr William Mason (d. 1891) was a missionary in the
West from the 18305, when he received his appointment
from the Wesleyan Methodist Omrch. Posted to Rainy
Lake in 1840, he was at Rossville Mission (on Playgreen
Lake, near Norway House) for eleven years, 1843-1854.
Kane mel him there. Like most missionaries of the time,
be worked not only as a priest, but also as a translator,
intetprerer, and teacher. Although Mason is sometimes
credited with a ttanslation of the Bible into Cree, the work
seems to have been undertaken largely by his wife, Sophia
Thomas Mason, who also found the time to bear him nine
The American Art Journal/Volume XXI • Number 2
children. In 1854, Mason left me Methodist OlUrch, taking
up an appoinbTlent with the Omrch of England at York
Factory.
Meayet5 Rock Roche Miette, a inguJar fial cliff face 7(JX)
feet high, remains a landmark today because the YeUowhead
Highway passes at its foot. It is located beside the
Athabasca River, between Jasper and Bnile lakes, east of
the Jasper townsite. It is named for me reason given by
Kane.
MetbedS JUbon of Mr Wacker and EaIes/ Mr. Walkers and
EaIls mBhon See EaIes/EaIk.
Mill Fort Vancouver had put both a Hour mill and a saw mill
into operation by 1828.
MOIltnJse/montrauslmootrous The identity of this person is
uncertain. WA calls him "M'Gillveray" (lOl, 103). See
also Lefrombeys.
Moodey t Ca~ See Comuble.
the Mountain HOIIS Rocky MOWltain House (est. 1799) was
visited by Kane from April 21 until early May, 1848. It lies
on the North Saskarchewan River, approximately 165
miles upriver of Edmonton, at the edge of the foothills of
the Rockies. Kane made his hip to it overland by horse.
The HBC first located a post there in 1835.
MounteD falls Better known as Kakabelca Falls (the portage
around them was called the Mountain Portage), these falls
of 120 feet occur thirty-six miles upriver from Lake
Superior on the Kaministikwia River.
Mount sL Hellam A 9600-foot-high volcanic mountain
north of the Columbia River and west of the Cowlitz River
in Washington state, Mount St. Helens can be seen from a
point eighty miles out at sea. It was seen and named in
1792 by the British explorer, Cap(ain George Vancouver.
He named it in honor of Baron St. Helens (1753-1839),
who conducted British negotiations with Spain regaroing
possession of the Pacific Northwest coast of North America.
Kane wanted to climb it but could find no willing
participants or guide. It was first climbed six years later, in
1853.
Mr. a ~hanery
See Jacuhes, Mr.
Muck-e-IOO/pouder /Tbe Powder This Cree chief, whom
Kane met near Fort Pitt on September 15. 1846, and at Fort Pitt
in late January, 1848, is well identified by Kane as the aide-decamp
of Caw-ke-leis suw-k-way.
musk..e-gaw A tribe of the Swampy Cree, the Mas-ka-gan (the
name derives, as does the name Muskeg, from the Algonquian
word for •• grassy bog' ') were the Indians that the Reverend
William Mason ministered to at Rossville Mission, near Norway
House. WA judges them harshly, as the journal does not
"they are decidedly the dirtiest Indians I have met with, and
the less that is said about their morality the better" (71). The
sketches that Kane mentions having made of this tribe have not
been located.
Nasqualy /N~uuly
See nesqualey.
79