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

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characters while there; and the transfer of Rupert's Land to the Dominion of Canada was arranged there in 1869. oaId mans river A tributary of the Athabasca River, Oldman Creek enters it from the south, at a point between the mouths of two other tributaries: the Berland and the McLeod. Modem Whitecourt, Alberta, lies to the east of Oldman Creek. Kane's brigade had to make two portages on the Athabasca River at this point because of low water levels in October. Ockanagan Fort Okanagan (est. 1811) was visited by Kane November 28, 1846. Situated at the forks of the Okanagan and Columbia rivers (near modem Brewster, Washington), this post was established by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, bought, along with Astoria, by the North West Company in 1812, and taken over by the HBC in 1821, at the time of the merger with its rival. oragan Kane here uses the term (i.e. Oregon) to designate the entire Pacific Slope drained by the Columbia River: a post as far inland as Fort Colville is included. The name was first used by Jonathan Carver, in Travels through the Interior Parts of North America (1778), and seems to derive from the Shoshoni word, oyer-un-gon. meaning" a place of plenty. " Orkey / orknie The HBC traditionally hired on men at the Orkney Islands, off the northeast coast of Scotland, which was the last stop for the company's ships before the traverse to Hudson Strait. Natives of the Orkneys are properly called Orcadians, but were known as Orkneymen in the fur trade. P. River/pambani Pembina River flows east and south out of the northern Turtle Mountain, in the southwestern comer of Manitoba. It crosses the Manitoba/North Dakota border and empties into Red River at Pembina, North Dakota. Its name comes from the Cree for "wateIberry" or "high bush cranberry." Paganes The Piegan (U .S. sp.)/Peigan (Can. sp.) are the largest of the three tribes comprising the Blackfoot Nation. The Piegan language differs only slightly from that of the Blood and Blackfoot. This tribe once occupied hunting grounds in the Rocky Mountain foothills, extending from Rocky Mountain House, on the North Saskatchewan River, in the north, to what today is known as Heart Butte, Montana, in the south, and east out onto the Plains. By the time of Kane's travels, they had moved farther south, but were occasional visitors to Fort Edmonton and Fort Pitt, where they chanced to encounter their traditional enemies, which included the Assiniboine. Pallaw See Pellaw. pallett Paul Paulet Paul, one of the steersmen of Kane's brigade of York boats in August, 1846, was renowned for a great feat of strength that he performed at Grand Rapid, the debouchement of the Saskatchewan River, through Cedar Lake, into Lake Winnipeg. When he accidentally snapped his steering oar and fell overboard, he managed not only to gain a footing in the ferocious rapid, but also to spring into the next boat coming downriver. Then, he urged the men to catch up to his foundering vessel; when they succeeded, he sprang into it, regained control of it before it overturned, and conducted it safely into the next lake (WA [73-74]. paluse River A tributary of the Snake River, the Palouse River, The American Art Journal! Volume XXI • Number 2 in southeastern Washington, drains the portion of the Columbia Basin that lies south of Spokane, Washington. pambani See P. River. Pambena MounteD Probably, Pembina mountain is meant here, but that name is not a current feature on maps. Because Kane mentions it before, but on the same day that he mentions P[ embina] River, the hill could be the one identified as Le Gros Bute on the map prepared by the British expedition, under Captain John Palliser, a decade later (1857 - 1860). This would place the hill near the site of present~y Baldur, Manitoba, north of Rock Lake (Kane's lake de Roch) , and south of Spruce Woods Provincial Parle. papeler point See Lake Winapeg. parey de bute or hill parey Neither name has survived on modem maps. Kane's landscape and portrait log states that "Prarey de Bute" was situated "between the cow e litz and Nesqually [rivers] . . . 20 miles from [Fort] Nesqually." Together with the fact that Captain Wilkes records his encountering the prairie after crossing the Deschutes River on his trip from Fort Nisqually to Fort Vancouver in May, 1841, Kane's information matches the feature known today as Violet Prairie, Washington. Whereas the journal credits Captain Wilkes with having investigated the hills on the prairie, WA entrusts this investigation to Kane himself: "I dug one of them open, but found nothing in it but loose stones, although I went four or five feet down. The whole surface is thickly covered with coarse grass" (142). For his part, Wilkes described "Bute Prairies" as "extensive, and covered with umuli or small mounds, at regular distances asunder. As far as I could learn, there is no tradition among the natives relative to them. They are conical mounds, thirty feet in diameter, about six or seven feet high above the level, and many thousands in number. Being anxious to ascertain if they contained any relics, I subsequently visited these prairies, and opened three of the mounds, but nothing was found in them but a pavement of round stones. " the paw/the Paw/the P./the Pau The Pas (est. 1751) was visited by Kane August 25, 1846, and July 12, 1848. On the Saskatchewan River just east of the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border, this post took its name from the Cree opa, a "narrow place"; the expression is descriptive of the river at this point. It was known to the French as Pasquia and Le Pas. PeDaw /Pallaw The identity of this voyageur is not known. See also Lefrombeys. pin portage On the Kaministikwia River upriver from Kakabeka Falls, the vicinity of this portage, like the rapids it avoided, has been submerged by hydroelectric projects on the river. Pitt Fort Pitt (est. 1830) was visited by Kane September 19- 20, 1846, and Janwuy 14 to February 3, and May 27- 28, 1848. On the North Saskatchewan River just east of the Alberta/ Saskatchewan border, Fort Pin served as the midway provisioning post between forts Edmonton, on the west, and Carlton, on the east. play geene lake/Play geene lake Playgreen Lake, depending upon one's point of view, is the northeastern extension of Lake 81
Winnipeg, to which it is connected by a narrows, or the recommencement, after passing through the north end of Lake Winnipeg, of the Saskatchewan River, its waters continuing on to Hudson Bay. point de boan/Point de boan In the Wood River valley, Pointe des Bois, flooded today by one of the Columbia River's thirteen dams, was a point of land around which the ttail across Athabasca Pass had to negotiate. It was both densely wooded and boggy. In such a narrow valley, the ttail must have seemed at times to be the riverbed itself, at times dense, flooded woods - both bitter tonnents, especially in cold weather, for man and horse alike. point de Tramble See Lake Winapeg. point min. See Lake Winapeg. Point of Woods Pointe des Bois, or Pointe aux Chenes, was the name given to the fall and portage ten miles downriver from Chute a Jacques (see rapid de gock) on the Winnipeg River. Alternatively, it lay one mile above Rocher Briile portage. )lOuder See Muck-e-too. Pourtage new In his list of portages on the Columbia River, Kane mentions a name not commonly used. His list appears to follow the course of the Columbia, the last entry being the lowest feature on the river. The Cascades, however, were always described as the last downriver, or, for those venturing inland, the "first" (WA [180]) upriver obstructions; yet, the name of the Cascades precedes that of Pourtage new in this list. Powder See Muck-e-too. prarie de fay Thirty-six miles up the Columbia River from Fort Vancouver and fourteen miles downriver from the Cascades, Prairie de The must have been somewhere between modem Multnomah Falls, Oregon, and Skamania, Washington. Its whereabouts have not been confirmed, but it is known that the name was widely used in accounts of the lower Columbia. Prew This is another voyageur who is known entirely by his (probably) misspelled surname. See also Lefrombeys. Prudence, Mr. Chief Factor John Peter Pruden (bapt. 1778; d. 1868), the man for whose baptismal place Fort Edmonton was named, was the great uncle of the bride, Margaret Harriott Rowand, the daughter of John Harriott (see Haritt/Harett/ H., Mr.) and his first wife, Elizabeth, who disappeared in Athabasca Pass, and who was herself John Peter Pruden's daughter. (Could the bride, then, possibly have been the newborn baby who had to be saved in Athabasca Pass and taken to Fort Edmonton? She would have been age seventeen that December of 1847.) Pruden had become a councillor of Assiniboia in 1839, retiring to Red River eventually, although he had obviously come to Fort Edmonton (perhaps for the wedding) in De· cember, 1847. In his "Character Book," Governor Simpson thought little of him: "A man of good conduct and character and of respectable appearance and manner but weak minded vain & silly without decision in or knowledge of business beyond the simple process of dealing with an Indian across the Counter" (188). Punch Bowl 82 See Cometees punch boal. R. River See Red River. rabbet point See Lake Winapeg. Raney Lake/ Lack Ie Plue Rainy Lake is located in rough woodlands along the modem Ontario/Minnesota border, 150 miles west of Lake Superior. By way of Rainy River, its waters flow west to Lake of the Woods. rapid de god/Chute a Jocka Chute a Jacques, a fall of fifteen feet on the Winnipeg River, ninety miles downstream from Lake of the Woods, was seen by Kane on June 9, 1846, and August 11, 1848. WA explains that the fall takes its name from a voyageur who attempted an unprecedented shooting of it and died (44). The modem name is Lamprey Falls. rapped de More Named "Rapids de Mort" in WA (101), today's Gooseneck Rapids lie forty miles below the town of Hinton, Alberta, on the Athabasca River, they form part of a swift stretch of the river, with waves more than three feet high, which extends from the mouth of Oldman Creek (Kane's oald mans river) to the mouth of the Berland River (Kane's Bateseis River of November 22, 1847). This is likely the same rapid as the one Kane called Grand raped when he went by snowshoe downriver on November 18, 1847. Rapped de prate Probably Kane's spelling of Rapid de Pretre, Priest Rapids is now inundated by a reservoir of the same name in central Washington state. According to Gabriel Franchere, an Astorian (see Astoria), the rapid on the Columbia River was "thus named in 1811 ~y [another Astorian] Mr [David] Stuart and his party on meeting a number of Indians, one of whom mimicked religious ceremonies and the action of sprinkling with holy water." rapped of deth See daD de more. Rapped St. Marton/river S~ Martin/Rappe st Maran Presumably, Kane means St. Martin rapids and St. Martin River. At the rapids the incident concerning cannibalism by the Iroquois began. Given the order of incidents in that narrative, both the river and the rapid, where it joins the Columbia, lie upriver of Dalle de Mort, that is, below Boat Encampment and above modem Revelstoke, British Columbia, and Upper Arrow Lake. Rat portage/Rat Portage Rat Portage (est. 1790) was passed by Kane June 7, 1846, and visited August 14-16, 1848. Situated along the portage of the same name at the outlet (north shore) of Lake of the Woods into the Winnipeg River (at modem Kenora, Ontario), Rat Portage was built by the North West Company and maintained as a provisioning point and trading post by the HBC following the merger of 1821 . ","Red River The name refers to both a river and the oldest settlement in the fur trade empire. At 550 miles, Red River takes its rise at Lake Traverse, on the Minnesota/North Dakota border, flowing north into Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg. The river's color comes from the clay in its trench. Red River Colony began as a settlement for retired voyageurs and their Metis families, and was introduced to systematic farming in 1812, when Lord Selkirk attempted to "plant" a colony of British and European immigrants at it. Of tangential interest are the Red River carts of the Metis, to which Kane refers (see, for example, the entry under June 24, 1846) and which several of his paintings depict. These were of Guide
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Volume XXI • Number 2 • 1989
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THE AMERICAN ART JOURNAL Published
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I rite this part of my jurnal over
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Paul Kane. CLACKAMAINDIANS, WILl.AM
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ngman of North Dakota and outhem Ma
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Paul Kane. FALLS ON THE UPPER PELOU
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PAUL KANE. c. 1859. Photograph. Col
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dently seen the e two books t thoug
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I 1--- MAP TO ILLUSTRATE M'- KAN E
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Paul Kane. ENCAMPMENT, WINNIPEG RIV
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still smoking after having erupted
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Paul Kane. PIN PORTAGE. May, 1846.
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miskitas and black flies verrey bad
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Paul Kane. METIS CAMP AND HUNTERS.
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Paul Kane. TWO PORTRAIT STUDIES: AN
Page 31 and 32: u vrry ciod and good mlUl I rcmaned
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Page 35 and 36: Paul Kane. TO-MA-QUIN A ASCADE CHIE
Page 37 and 38: Paul Kane. MOUNT HOOD FROM FORT VAN
Page 39 and 40: Paul Kane. MOUNT ST. HELENS. March
Page 41 and 42: Paul Kane. SAW-SE-A, A COWICHAN CHI
Page 43 and 44: Paul Kane. RETURN OF A WAR PARTY. A
Page 45 and 46: ." Paul Kane. OLD COX, A SANDWICH I
Page 47 and 48: Paul Kane. LOWER FALLS ON THE PELOU
Page 49 and 50: Paul Kane. MISSION STATION OF WALKE
Page 51 and 52: Paul Kane. THE LITTLE DALLES. Octob
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Page 55 and 56: Paul Kane. CUN-NE-WA-BUM, ONE THAT
Page 57 and 58: Paul Kane. FRAN~OIS LUCIE, A CREE H
Page 59 and 60: for the first day by a Mr. Prude ne
Page 61 and 62: Paul Kane. BRIGADE OF BOATS. July 2
Page 63 and 64: Paul Kane. PETER JACOBS. WESLEY A
Page 65 and 66: farlle fairly lose loose; lose fe~t
Page 67 and 68: Guide to People and Places in Kane'
Page 69 and 70: Coffin Rock Various Coast Salish tr
Page 71 and 72: Coulitz R. The Cowlitz River, a tri
Page 73 and 74: Ea MAP TO ILLUSTRATE in the TERR1TO
Page 75 and 76: Dam has transfonned this stretch of
Page 77 and 78: I • La hed (" Otter Head" in WA [
Page 79 and 80: his right hand. He was noted as the
Page 81: Paul Kane. NORWAY HOUSE. July or Au
Page 85 and 86: George Simpson to open a trail from
Page 87 and 88: ·\ .. { Paul Kane. WHITE MUD PORTA
Page 89 and 90: Selected Bibliography The author wi
Page 91 and 92: Index Allan, George William, 8-9. 2
Page 93 and 94: Mayer, Frank BlackweD, 14,21n. Mear
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