Monday, October 26, 2009

Fort MacLeod, October 26th 1874

Dear Lizzie

Again I have to write you the sad tidings that your letter has not reached me. I do not know how much longer I will have to wait – but I hope not very long – no mail matter has come in from Benton. We expect letters now every day. Perhaps after all I will get them for a birthday present. We have had our first real tough of winter – after being surrounded on all sides by vast prairie fires which lightened the heavens with their lurid glare for miles & miles the wind changed to the north & snow began falling & it was cold. In our poor thin canvass tents the keen wind found many an entrance & with no winter clothes it was bitterly cold. Fortunately for our tent Conrad had a small stove which he brought over to us – we made an impromptu safety valve & put in a fire which kept us comfortable. The men got served with Buffalo Robes - & tho’ they were anything but comfortable still it made things bearable for them. Of course all work upon our fort had to be discontinued last night was 16ยบ when noticed[;] I think it was lower & work is again resumed. It will be some weeks yet before we get into our winter huts - & we will have several storms like this last one – which after all only lasted two days and a half. The snow is still on the ground & may continue to be for 2 or 3 days which makes it cold and unpleasant underfoot. I feel sorry for the party that went East with Col. French. They will be in a miserably exposed portion of country where this storm will be felt with tenfold severity. One melancholy event connected with the storm – the death of one man who had been suffering from Typhoid Fever he went out in the cold without coat or hat & came in complaining of cramps & died in a few hours. He was buried this morning with military honors. His death threw a gloom over us all. It was the second one since the force was organized. Also the first white man who ever died a natural death in these parts all others had been killed or come to a sudden end. I do so long to hear from you that is my constant cry – of course I know you have written also that my anxiety only makes the time appear longer – but still I am anxious. Never mind a mail is coming when we won’t want letters[,] when words will do and then is we won’t have a good long long talk.

Yesterday evening was the first Sunday evening I have missed my evening walk. I went out for a short time but only round the tent – perhaps next Sunday will be milder and I will start earlier & make up for it. The Rocky Mountains loomed up this morning in dazzling splendor – reflecting the sun’s rays – they appear only a few miles off & showed all their cracks & fissures more plainly than I have yet seen them. We have had fish from the river just in front of us – large pike weighing from 6 to 12 lbs. a man can in half an hour more than supply all the men in camp for one day. Deer have been shot especially the day before the storm – they seemed to have known of its approach & fled for warmth into the bush – large flocks of geese are continually passing over us but no one has been fortunate enough to get one of the many birds. A goose is a noble bird and endowed with many good qualities & with a high order of goose chase is not to make a fool of a goose but of the one sent. A band of the Kootenay tribe of Indians have been setting fire to the prairies all around the country. On Friday night one of the largest fires was suddenly turned by the wind in our direction & stopped within a few miles of us. The camp & country was one dense cloud of smoke making us all weep & cough. For the past week or so I have not been so well as I had been – owing most probably to my eating too much and working too little. I have been going about a little more & so feel better.

Would you be kind enough to ask Jack to go to Willing & Williamson & renew my subscription to "The Practitioner” & give them my present address – Dr. McCollum is receiving the present numbers & has the back numbers of the past year. I began from the month of December if I remember rightly & the subscription was too. I am very much afraid will all my messages & demands Jack will wish we had no communication at all with the outer world.