Volume 1

A,
292 OLD POPLAR FORT.
knocked-up party arrived ;
horses, that could scarcely walk,
they came on foot, leading their
July loth. We have not so many mosquitoes here as at
Panbian river. The country is more elevated, and the soil,
being dry and sandy, may account for the difference. I
found myself unwell all day with a fever ; however, I made
preparations for our journey, but had some difficulty in procuring
a good horse. My own, which I had sent here last
spring for that purpose, was sick, and another one that I
depended upon was lame ; but as I was determined to proceed,
even should it be on foot, I was offered one. I knew
him to be a cruel beast for carrying rough, and no runner at
all ;
but had to take him or none.
July nth. I sent off Mr. William Henry and Forcier'
for Panbian river, and soon set out for Riviere la Souris,
accompanied by Toussaint Veandrie [Vaudry], interpreter,
and Joseph Ducharme. I was still weak and scarcely able
to sit upon my horse. Our road led through patches of
meadows and low poplars ; the latter generally in low, boggy
spots, where our horses had mud and water up to their
knees ; but we had a beautiful road for a few miles before
we came to these bad places.
At nine o'clock we passed old Fort de Tremble,' where
^ The Forciers of the N. W. Co. were several, appearing also as Forcin,
Fercier, and Frecier. Henry's was very likely Pierre Forcier, listed as voyageur,
Fort Dauphin, 1804.—Another was Michel Forcier, of equal date.—
third was Jean Luc. Forcier, on the Chippewa r.
about the same time.—Etienne
Forcier, listed as of Fort des Prairies, 1804, was at the Rocky Mt. house, Oct.
26th, 1806, and with Thompson in the Rocky mts., 1809-11; he came out of
the mts. with Thompson down the Saskatchewan in June, 1810, and went with
him from Boggy Hall into the mts. ; at the sources of the Athabasca, Oct.
1810 ; at Thompson's historical camp at the mouth of Canoe r. in Jan., 181 1.
' Otherwise Poplar fort, also called Fort du Tremble, Fort des Trembles,
Fort aux Trembles, with variants to Tremblier, Trembliers, and Tremblaie.
As elsewhere stated, the word refers to the aspen or quaking-ash, Populus
tremuloides, whose leaves tremble or shiver in the breeze. This fort stood on
the right or S. bank of the Assiniboine, about 5 m. above Portage la Prairie,
in the middle of a 3-mile reach of the river ; above it was a wood known as
la Grande Trembliere or Tremblaie. Accounts of the affair which Henry nar-