LA PAROISSE DE DONNELLY (4) (162 ENGLISH -- 161 fran)

LA PAROISSE DE DONNELLY, (4) (162 ENGLISH)

MONDAY 27 MAY 1912

    A group of settlers,  then had arrived in Grouard on Sunday, May 26 (Pentecost) with Fathers Falher and Giroux.  Monday the 27th was a busy day for the Fathers. They had to prepare the first visit to this promised land, as many were anxious to get there. They had to find wagons and drivers, tents, blankets provisions, and a guide. As for the settlers, with time on their hands, they got acquainted with those who had arrived before them at Lesser Slave Lake, the mission personnel, Oblates and Sisters of Providence. They had time to visit the town with a population of 2,000 a town named after Bishop Grouard, who was regrettably absent at that time. The Co-adjutor, Bishop Joussard deeply interested in colonization, was also absent.

TUESDAY, MAY 28TH

        Was the decisive day. Everyone wondered what impressions the coming exploration would create. Wagons got rolling about three miles for hour.  Two metis, a man and his son, named Chalifoux, nicknamed Aputew, were driving the wagons or "democrats". A certain Gauvin came along to hep find the survey mounds and  pegs. Father Falher and Father Giroux were on horseback. The settlers' group consister of Telesphore Leblanc, and his son Emile, Alphonse Gariepy, Joseph Longtin, Misael Giroux, Ovila Pilon, Donat Forgues, J. Hamelin, Isaac Dupuis, Fred Brulotte, Felix Legault and Ovila Sabourin.
 
         Saint Anthony about 15 miles from Grouard, by the road around Buffalo Bay, There were two Oblate Brothers at Saint Anthony.  They built up a good fire and received us very well; they gave us supper and we chatted into evening. When time came to sleep, we spread our blankets on the floor and passed a good night.

WEDNESDAY. MAY 29TH, Next day the sky was clear and after breakfast we left. Near Saint Anthony the Fathers were to meet a metis named Ferguson, well known around Grouard, and further along and Father Giroux are looking for an Indian named Pailloux or Payou. This Pailloux lived near where the trail by the Heart River, and he kept one of those primitive inns called "Stopping Places". It took all morning to get there a distance of about 10 miles, only to find that Pailloux was gone to a pow-wow near Lake Winagami. There was a stop by the river, for lunch, that nearly turned to tragedy. Someone started a fire which caught in the tall dry grass and risked starting a forest fire. A forest ranger appeared and threatened to have the whole group arrested. Fortunately the Fathers knew him and smoothed things out, but it remained a valuable lesson in prudence.

  Continuing on their way fairly smoothtly it seems, they reached the edge of the lake before night and saw the Indian encampment. The Fathers said a few words to some of the Indians, and led geith lottle troop half-a-mile or a mile further along; the Fathers meant to seize this occasion to introduce the settlers to the Indians and their ways. When night came, Father Giroux led the volunteers to the Indian camp, with a warning to keep their distance if they did not want to gain certain undesirable insects. It was the hour of the Dace; some were not content to watch, and joined in. "They came back with lice, and scratched to their heart's content",

 
   But some good came of the visit; Ferguson met their precious guide, Pailloux, and brought him back to the settlers' camp. He was examined from head to foot as some strange specimen, and that could not have been too pleasant for him. As Pailloux seemed to be about sixty years old, the settlers convinced Father Giroux to ask his age; to this he answered that he did not know, but that he had been living for a long time.

Next day the sky was clear and after breakfast we left. Near Saint Anthony the Fathers were to meet a metis named Ferguson, well known around Grouard, and further along and Father Giroux are looking for an Anidan named Pailloux or Payou. This Pailloux lived near where the trail close to  the Heart River, and he kept one of those primitive inns called "Stopping Places". It took all morning to get there a distance of about 10 miles, only to find that Pailloux was gone to a pow-wow near Lake Winagami. There was a stop by the river, for lunch, that nearly turned to tragedy. Someone started a fire which caught in the tall dry grass and risked starting a forest fire. A forest ranger appeared and threatened to have the whole group arrested. Fortunately the Fathers knew him and smoothed things out, but it remained a valuable lesson in prudence.

  Continuing on their way fairly smoothtly it seems, they reached the edge of the lake before night and saw the Indian encampment. The Fathers said a few words to some of the Indians, and led with his troop half-a-mile or a mile further along; the Fathers meant to seize this occasion to introduce the settlers to the Indians and their ways. When night came, Father Giroux led the volunteers to the Indian camp, with a warning to keep their distance if they did not want to gain certain undesirable insects. It was the hour of the truth; some were not content to watch, and joined in "They came back with lice, and scratched to their heart"s content",
 
   But some good came of the visit; Ferguson met their precious guide, Pailloux, and brought him back to the settlers' camp. He was examined from head to foot as some strange specimen, and that could not have been too pleasant for him. As Pailloux seemed to be about sixty years old, the settlers convinced Father Giroux to ask his age; to this he answered that he did not know, but that he had been living for a long time.