~{ To CARIBOO AND BACK }-

CHAPTER NINE
RESTING BY THE WAY

From Fort Pitt on the way grew rougher
and harder than ever. Heavy rains had flooded
the streams and turned the low places into bogs.
In other parts the country was heavily wooded.
Hard work and patience were needed to make
any progress at all and bridge building became
a daily labor. There were no Hudson Bay scows
to ferry them across, as at Fort Qu’Appelle,
and even where they met with friendly Indians
their canoes could not carry the oxen and carts
over the wide swollen waters. Log rafts or
floating bridges had to be constructed.

The march was hard and strenuous for all.
If the advance was ten miles a day they were
forced to be content. At times it was not more
than five, where trees had to be felled and
undergrowth cut to clear a trail. But even
the clumsy oxen learned to scramble over the
lesser logs, and the carts, being made entirely
of tough wood without a nail in them, stood

[110] :