Simpson to Qu’Appelle
This is image na-3934-16, from Glenbow Archives, and is used with their permission. The packhorses that the HBC men used were probably smaller than these horses, but the scene would be very similar to this.
Well, we finally got Simpson on the road from Carlton House to Red River. In the last post we finished with his quote on Friday May 13, 1825: “Started at half past 2, found Mr. [John] Stuart in the track, he had ascertained that the Fall Indian reports were false and followed us last night…but could not fall on our Encampment, he accompanied us to the South Branch of the Saskatchewan, or Bow River, where we breakfasted, crossed and struck through a beautiful country consisting of small plains, hillocks, clumps of poplar and ponds or Lakes.” My notes tell me that he (or Stuart) passed by Duck Lake to get to the South Saskatchewan, and Simpson also travelled through the Birch Hills south of the river.
Saskatchewan’s Duck Lake is just north of Batoche, and it was one of the five settlements settled by Métis in the 1860s and 1870s. In 1885, it was the site of the Battle of Duck Lake, a conflict between the Métis and the Canadian government at the start of the North West Rebellion. The Birch Hills (Birch Hills National Migratory Bird Sanctuary) were heavily treed with birch trees that were used in manufacturing birch bark canoes, and the countryside that surrounds the Birch Hills is part of the aspen parkland region of Saskatchewan. Cross Lake is next, and it might well be Houghton Lake, or the narrows in Lenore Lake. I won’t find out by name which one it is, as after World War II the Saskatchewan government renamed all the lakes in the province for military men. All I can tell you is that it is probably a lake they had to cross, and both those lakes are in the right place and both might fit the bill.
So, there you are. Where will Simpson travel next? “Saturday May 14th. Continued our route at half past 2, crossed the Next Hills and encamped at the borders of the Buffalo Robe Plain [?].” It is not likely we will identify these two places. “Our guide to day got quite bewildered and lost much ground by not keeping in the proper direction. Our course is South East, making however numerous turns to avoid Woods & Lakes; the order of our March is to start at dawn, travel 5 hours, breakfast, and give the Horses two hours rest, then travel 3 hours, lay by until 4 o’Clock and then go on until Dusk. Our rate is a steady Walk of about 3 1/2 to 4 miles per hour, all hands on foot except Mr. [James] McMillan and myself, and the object of bringing so many Horses is to carry our little Baggage, live on them if Game fails, and make Skin Canoes of their Hides if we find it necessary… My Servant, Tom [Taylor], and George Bird, act in the capacity of Hunters for the party & supply us with abundance of Swans, Ducks, & Geese.” Tom Taylor is brother of Margaret Taylor (Simpson’s soon-to-be-mistress), and (as we also know from the last post) George Bird is son of Chief Factor James Bird, who is just retiring from the Company. Simpson’s journal continues:
Sunday, May 15th. Got into a very thickety country intersected with deep Swamps and small Lakes, to avoid which we are compelled to Wind about in all directions. A circumstance occurred to Day which gives me much uneasiness and is likely to expose us to much inconvenience; soon after Breakfast while on the March a Red Deer [elk] appeared close to the track; the Hunters asked if they might follow to which I replied in the negative, as we could not afford time. They, however (my servant Tom & George Bird) struck off the Road to have a shot and we proceeded on our route for about a couple of hours, conceiving they were in the rear until the usual resting time, 12 o’clock; after turning the Horses loose and lighting a Fire to smoke the muchetoes [mosquitos] which assailed us in clouds, I missed the Hunters, but was informed by our Guide that the track was perceptible in the Grass and that they would immediately be up with us. After waiting about an hour we heard 3 Signal Shots to Windward, which were immediately answered by myself & Mr. McMillan (the people being asleep), but as we were by the Sound about a couple of Miles to Leeward and blowing fresh they could not of course hear the reports. We were now satisfied that the Young Men had lost our track, and I dispatched our Guide, La Plante, and Laverdure in various directions in search of them, it being unsafe to trust the other people from the Camp as they have not the talent of finding their way through the Woods. Those who were sent returned after a fruitless search of 3 hours and had some difficulty in finding their way back to us, the country being quite a labyrinth, so that I am obliged to give them [Taylor and Bird] up as lost to us for this Voyage. We however remain where we are for the remainder of the Day in case they may cast up by Morning; it is quite unnecessary to stop longer as there is no chance of their falling in with us. Their lives are no in danger, as by keeping in a North West direction they must fall on the Bow [South Saskatchewan] River, which they can cross by Raft or Swimming and get to Carlton [House]…but they will suffer much as they have but one pair of Indian Shoes each, and no other clothing than their Shirts & Leather trousers.
So, he brushed his hands of Taylor and Bird. But they had a difficult journey to make, and they suffered badly from their experience, which we will hear of some time in the fairly distant future.
Monday May 16. Our Guide has been at fault for these last Days, having gone further to the Southward than our course, and I was about to make up my mind to return to Carlton, fearing we might get bewildered in the Sea of plains we this Morning entered upon, when he fortunately fell on Salt Lake, which he immediately recognized; this piece of Water is about 60 Miles in length and 3 to 10 Miles broad, quite salt.”
This is a pair of lakes called the Quill Lakes. The Saskatchewan Encyclopedia says this of Quill Lakes.
(51 degrees 55’N, 104 degrees 22’W (Big Quill Lake)…) Three lakes constitute Quill Lakes: Big, Little and Middle Quill (or Mud Lake). Elevated at 152 m, Big and Little Quill average 500 square km. Located north of Wynyard, they are in an internal drainage basin fed by numerous small streams. Big Quill’s mean depth is only 1.5 m. Its extent varies with inflow and evaporation rates. The waters are saline, especially during times of drought. Mineral precipitates include sodium-magnesium sulphates and potassium sulphates. The lakes and surrounding wetlands are a stopover and breeding ground for migrating birds, particularly wildfowl and shorebirds. Designated as a Ramsar site (after the Ramsar Convention in Iran, aiming to protect wetlands of international importance) in 1987, this was the first Canadian implementation site for the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP). Measures to protect wildlife include designation of the islands in Middle Quill Lake as a provincial wildlife refuge to preserve colonies of American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythorhynchos) and the 1998 designation as an important Bird Area (IBA). Big Quill has Saskatchewan’s largest breeding population of piping plover (Charadrius melodus circumcinctus). The lakes were named for the bird quills collected and shipped to England for use as writing pens. (Marilyn Lewry).
Well, Quill Lakes are important lakes to Saskatchewan and Canada, and Governor Simpson will stumble past these lakes on more than one occasion in the future! As I said, he travelled over this route between Red River and Carlton House on three different occasions, but his route differs with every excursion! His journal continues with his travel along the shores of this historic lake.
Proceeded along this Lake all Day having the Touch Wood Hills in sight on the other side. Hitherto the Weather has been very Warm and the Muschetoes more numerous and troublesome than I ever knew them to be, but this Evening, to our great relief, it has become extremely cold.
Touchwood Hills! Yes, the Touchwood Hills lie directly south of Quill Lakes. This range of hills is famous all over Canada, being a part of Palliser’s Triangle, a semi arid steppe-land on the Canadian prairies and in the American Great Plains Region. Touchwood Hills is made up of two clusters of hills, called Big Touchwood Hills, and Little Touchwood Hills, that together make up the Touchwood Uplands. The region covers three Canadian provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) and five American States! Many First Nations and Indigenous peoples lived in the Touchwood Hills because of the wealth of bison found here. The name Palliser’s Triangle comes from Captain John Palliser, who with James Hector rode through this region in 1857 to 1859. You will probably remember that Hector was kicked by a horse in a Rocky Mountains pass, and that pass still carries the name of Kicking Horse Pass.
Governor Simpson’s journal continues:
Tuesday, May 17. At 12 am [pm] to Day got to Rocky Lake, the South side of which we followed until Sun Set, when we put up near the Dogs head and for the first time since we left Carlton our Guide found himself perfectly at Home on the route.
The footnotes say: “Simpson’s route beyond the Quill Lakes was a trail running along the south bank of Whitesand River [Riviere Blanche], to a crossing near an elevation called Dog Knoll, thence northwest to Fort Pelly on the upper waters of the Assiniboine, thence southeast along the east bank of the Assiniboine to Fort Ellice, and thereafter due west to Fort Garry. There is today in the region of Simpson’s “Rocky Lake” no body of water of sufficient size to fit his description of it, but Fishing, Whitesand, and Dog Lakes differ in their elevation only slightly, and the ground separating them is low lying, with saline lakes, deep sloughs and marshes predominating along Whitesand River, so that it is likely that in a period of slightly greater precipitation than at present prevails there, an extended shallow lake covered the whole area. There seems to have been considerable shrinkage generally in the lakes of this region during the last century…” On my Saskatchewan map, Whitesand River flows out of the east end of Fishing Lakes, which is 12 miles east of the east end of Quill Lakes — and Dog Lake is somewhere in this region too. If Dog Lake is here, so, too, will be the Dog Knoll! Or will it. We will have to find out.
Governor Simpson’s journal entry continues:
Found a number of Swan, Goose, & Duck Eggs this afternoon; they were too highly flavoured for my taste but considered a great treat by the people. Our allowance of provisions has been very scanty since the loss of our hunters, and it we are not more successful tomorrow one of the Horses must suffer.
Wednesday, May 18th. The Country we have passed these two last days is a succession of plains, Lakes & Hummocks of Poplars, but to Day we have travelled Waist deep in Mud & Water and obliged to Swim the Horses in many places; the Weather very unfavorable, bitterly cold for the Season, blowing hard and occasional hail Showers. We however kept close at our Work and got to the head of the Assiniboine River within a Mile of the old Establishment of Fort Alexandria or Hibernia, at Dusk. Fort Pelly cannot be above 15 or 20 Miles distant from this place, but none of our people know the exact spot and as it might occupy more time to find it out than we can at present afford, I have determined on proceeding direct for Q’Apppelle.
As the Whitesand River flowed south and then north again, I think they rode straight across the country, and reached the Assiniboine River north of its junction with the Whitesand. Due east of them is Fort Pelly National Historic site, some 25 miles to the east and close to the south bank of Swan River, which swoops in from the north.
And Fort Alexandria? The footnotes tell us that Fort Alexandria was an old North West Company post located on David Thompson’s map on the west bank of the Assiniboine River, in what is now Township 32, Range 3, west of the Second Meridian. It was abandoned in 1805. Historic Maps tells us that Fort Alexandria was a North West Company fort on the west side of Assiniboine River near the source of Swan River and about 5 miles upstream (to the northwest) from Fort Pelly. It was 256 feet long and 196 feet wide, built in 1780 and attacked by the First Nations in 1782. It was strengthened in 1801 and abandoned in 1805. It was originally named Fort Tremblant and Poplar Fort, but the name was changed in honour of Sir Alexander Mackenzie. Daniel William Harmon was there in about 1801, so if you want a description of the post you can read his journal, which is published under the title of Harmon’s Journal, 1800-1819, by Daniel Williams Harmon.
By “Q’Appelle,” Simpson is referring to Fort Qu’Appelle, an HBC fort on the right or south bank of Qu’Appelle River, 90 miles west of old Fort Esperance, at the mouth of Jumping Deer Creek between the Fishing Lakes (and which they have already passed.) That might seem obscure, but these places should be on modern-day maps, and certainly they are findable in Historic Forts, from which I am getting much of this information. Fort Qu’Appelle, for example, was built before 1804, and is sometimes called Qu’Appelle Lakes Fort. And this is fun…
The name Qu’Appelle is derived from an Indian legend that the shores are haunted by a spirit that often wails during the night, resembling a human voice. The voyageurs applied the name Qu’Appelle.
Spooky!
At the moment it seems easy to follow Simpson’s route through the prairies — much easier than I thought it would be, in fact. As we go through this series of posts on this route, we will find that many names repeat themselves in Simpson’s journals — Dog Knoll is one of those names. Whitesand River is another. Broken Arm River! Wolverine Knoll will show up sometime, too, but on another journey [I think it is already mentioned in the journal of his 1841 journey.] I think by the time I figure out all the places in these three journals, this will be pretty familiar territory!
We are leaving Governor Simpson and his party close to the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border. When we continue this thread, we will be looking at places that are in Manitoba. That means we are close to Red River and Fort Garry — the journey is ending. And it will end with a familiar bang, as you will see when it happens. When the next section of this journal is written, it will appear here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/whatever-i-call-it/
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