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

George Simpson to open a trail from Edmonton to the Athabasca
River (see Frot Asneboin), the vital supply link in the transcontinental
trade route from the Colwnbia River, New Caledonia,
and 1bompson River districts on the Pacific Slope.
One of the most important chief factors in the HBC, Rowand
built Fort Edmonton into one of the most profitable and physically
imposing posts in the empire. His success lay partly in his
ability to negotiate among the various opposing tribes of Plains
Indians; the Blackfoot Confederacy warred with the Cree and
Assiniboine for the territory in which the North Saskatchewan
River lay. TIley all came to find Rowand a brave, fair man,
calling him "Iron Shirt" and "Big Mountain," this despite the
fact that he was short and quite lame. [fhe exhibited a shortcoming,
it was his disinclination to support wholeheartedly the
efforts of the missionaries on the prairies. In his '"Character
Book, " Governor Simpson reserved his highest praise for Rowand:
"One of the most pushing bustling Men in the Service
whose zeal and ambition in the discharge of his duty is unequalled.
. . . Of a fiery disposition and as bold as a Uon. An
excellent Trader who has the peculiar talent of attracting the
fiercest Indians to him while he rules them with a Rod of Iron and
so daring that he beards their Chiefs in the open camp while
surrounded by their Warriors .... full of drollery and hwnour
and generally liked and respected by Indians Servants and his
own equals" (182-183).
Rvwand was returning to Fort Edmonton from Yom Factory
in August, 1846, when Kane joined his annual Saskatchewan
brigade at Norway House. The Chief Factor was on furlough in
Montreal in 1847-1848, when Kane spent Christmas at Fort
Edmonton. In 1854, although he had decided to retire, he died in
the course of duty , apparently of a stroke, while en route to Fort
Pitt.
Rown, Mr. J. John Rowand Jr., the one son of Rowand Sr. to
join the fur trade, was the trader at Fort Pitt. He came to
Edmonton at Christmas, 1847, and on January 6, 1848, he
married Margaret (see Prudence, Mr.), daughter of John Edward
Harriott (see Harltt/Harett/H., Mr.), who was superintending
Fort Edmonton during the furlough of Rowand Sr.
Sandwitch Islanders The Pacific Slope districts of the fur trade
had long employed native Hawaiians, much as the eastern and
northern districts had employed Orcadians (see Orkey /orknie).
Wilson Price Hunt, an Astorian (see Astoria), had begun the
practice on the Colwnbia River as soon as Astoria was built in
1811. Nonnally, the Hawaiians proved to be reliable employees,
with especially well developed skills on the water. John Mc­
Loughlin, Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver from 1824 to 1846,
named Owyhee River, in southeastern Oregon, in recognition of
the part played by Hawaiians in the fur trade.
Sanschay See Lefrombeys.
Saskatchawan The Saskatchewan River is the principal river
system north of the Missouri, draining much of the Canadian
prairies from the Rocky Mountains to Hudson Bay. Its name
derives from the Algonquian words, KisiskaJchewani Sipi. for
"swift-ftowing river." At its eastern extent, Cedar Lake (see
seder Lake) and Grand Rapid (see grand Rapid/grand
raped), where it enters Lake Winnipeg, the Saskatchewan is
unified. Upriver 375 miles (west) are the forks of the North and
South Saskatchewan, which drain very different land. Taking its
rise in the Columbia Icefield (and for that reason, never used as a
route across the mountains), the North Saskatchewan remains
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entirely within the prairie parlc1and, while the South Saskatchewan,
which is fed by the Bow and Oldman rivers, drains
grasslands. This distinction is crucial for the understanding of the
paramount significance to the fur trade of the North, and the
comparative insignificance of the South Saskatchewan: the
beaver thrives only where trees do. As well, because the South
Saskatchewan lay, in the time of Kane's travels, within the
territory controlled by the bellicose Blackfoot Confederacy,
travel along it was hazardous. Nevertheless, the fur trade relied
on bison for its supply of pemmican, with which brigades could
sharply reduce the time taken from travel for hunting, thereby
making possible communication from the more remote Athabasca
River, Mackenzie River, and New Caledonia districts to
Hudson Bay and back in a single season's travel. Thus, st>rne
auxiliaIy use of the South Saskatchewan district was necessarily
made.
Saot de S~ Marey /sault/Sault Sault Sainte Marie (est. 1668)
was visited by Kane July, 1845, May 19, 1846, and October 1,
1848. Established as a mission in 1668 by Pere Marquette, a
post at the rapids of the Saint Marys River, between lakes
Superior and Huron, was maintained from that point on.
seder Lake On the transcontinental fur trade route, the first lake
that lay west of Lake Winnipeg, Cedar Lake was reached by a
portage around Grand Rapid (see grand Rapid/grand raped).
[t is a widening of the Saskatchewan River, having The Pas to its
irrunediate west.
Setter, Mr. George Setter (c. 1782-1868), named "Seder" in
WA (47, 48), joined the HBC as a laborer in 1805. He retired in
1858, and died at the Red River Settlement. Setter spent most of
his very long career in the Red River district, and had been the
postmaster at Fort Alexander for one year when Kane met him in
JWle, 1846. An Orcadian (or Oricneyman, as the HBC referred
to a native from the Orkney Islands), Setter proved a faithful
employee; according to Governor Simpson's' 'Character Book"
(235), however, an acci~nt that rendered Setter lame precluded
his assuming the command of any important post.
Sew/Sews/Sewes Sioux are Dakota whose territory in the 1840s
included the drainage basins of the Red, Rainy, and upper
Mississippi rivers, as well as the Qu'appelle, Platte, and even
Yellowstone river valleys. In the vicinity of Red River, where
Kane encountered them, the Sioux' enemies were the Saulteaux
and, because they competed with them for bison when the
numbers of that animal were quickly dwindling, the Metis.
Shew shwopp/Sbew~hops The Shuswap are the northernmost
of the four native groups occupying the interior plateau of
present~y southern British Columbia. 1beir territory was once
vast, and is still large. Villages on the North and South Tho~
son rivers and around the Shuswap Lakes are the most prominent
"'"
settlements; these areas lie to the west of the site of Boat
Encampment, across the Monashee Mountains.
Shutes/Shoots See La Shute/Shu~/Sboots.
Silver falls/Silver faD
fall.
See fall of the Pransin Horses or silver
Sirmon, Sir George/Sir Gorge/Sir G./Sur G. Sir George
Simpson (1787 -1860; lent. 1841) entered the employ of the
HBC as its Governor-in-Olief in 1820. He helped to effect the
merger of the HBC and North West Company in 1821, and for
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