Re: MtMan-List: red river carts?

[ThisOldFox@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-03-26 12:09:14 EST, you write:

> I AM SURE SOME ONE WILL STEP ON ME REAL HARD ON THIS ONE>
Only because you SHOUT so loud!!  Anyways, here are some facts I ran across
recently at the Canada Hall website concerning Meti Bison Hunters.
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One sector of the Metis population depended on the bison hunt for its
livelihood.  In 1801, they settled on the banks of the Red River where
Winnepeg now stands.

Every spring and fall, as many as 1600 people would gather at Pembina, on the
Red River for the bison hunts.  They elected a provisional government to rule
and keep order during the hunts, maintaining strict compliance with the
strict rules of the hunt and providing protection from attacks by rival
groups such as the Dakotas.

Back at the encampment, women and children spent several days processing the
meat of the slaughtered bison into pemmican.  After pulverizing the brittle
dried meat with flails, women then mixed all the ingredients together with a
shovel and left this mixture to congeal into pemmican in large rawhide sacks
like those seen on the Red River carts.  They kept some for themselves but
the bulk was sold to fur trade companies, who used it as a staple food for
their traders and voyageurs.

Built from oak, the Red River cart hauled buffalo meat and hides during the
annual hunts.  Pulled by an ox, it could carry more than a half ton for
twenty miles a day.  In the 1840 hunt, more than 1000 carts travelled for two
months over the Canadian prairies.  Driven by women, with their children on
board, the carts also transported the hunt's supplies.  Trails were cut by
great convoys of carts, moving sixteen abreast.
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While I can't quote the sources, I also remember the Metis coming down into
the northern plains of the US to hunt buffalo; and being entrepeneurs of a
sort, I have no doubt that they interacted with American traders and trappers
to sell their goods.  They had quite a production going in a relatively
unpopulated area at the time.  Others might be able to clarify this further.

Dave Kanger