Chimney Coulee

[Felicity Butler]

Taken from http://web.ncf.ca/er075/e1ta.html

CHIMNEY COULEE
With diary entries from Moise Vallée, the winter of 1887, Edmonton. "Sixty or so Métis families in the 1870s. You ever wonder what happened to us Métis. We scattered. Buffalo ran thin, looked scrawny in that last hunt. The buffalo, deer, elk, grizzlies, antelope, lots liked the area in the winter. Protected. Chimney Coulee was our winter home for a time, a refuge especially after the NWMP came to post there. They watched us like hawks - we French - and we had good influence with the Indians. We advised them on their treaties. The English knew that.

In the summer we, most anyway, traveled to Qu'Appelle, across the prairie before the grass grew up to your knee, just as the water was running in trickles and the buffalo moved in to graze; unpredictable herds. The carts could get stuck in the snow left over.

The NWMP posted there used the name East End, meaning I suppose the east end of les Montagnes des Cyprès, the Cypress Hills to the English. Or, it was an ironic and loving (maybe) reference to the east end of London, which at the time was pure poverty - poor and immigrant people.

Our first winter was 1871 with the HBCs Isaac Cowie, in what some named Hunter's settlement, in the coulee, what came to be known as the Chimney Coulee, I had a new wife back in Qu'appelle, her name was LaReine Davis, and she was good to me. She graced me with her long loving arms, all that stuff, and her demanding thoughtful nature. I was lucky. We had children. One, a daughter born in Maple Creek, died at two days old. Maybe she was lucky too.

Around 1879, we were trading for the HBC as usual, don't remember exactly but it was after the deep winter when the snow was so thick the animals were perishing and so were we, some of us rode into Montana after some of the last buffalo and we found other places; we never came back to Chimney Coulee. After that we hunted and traded in the Hills west of there. Tensions were pretty high. Some disappeared into Medicine Hat, Pincher Creek, Maple Creek, or headed up to the North Saskatchewan. A lot of us took scrip from Treaty Four and Seven. But that did not last long; speculators, and opportunists."

From the 1840s or so, the area in and around Chimney Coulee was a hunters' and traders' refuge. It is still well protected.. It was a kind of neutral territory in Indian country back then. Neutral only in that no particular group could claim it as their land. But they, particularly the Blackfoot and the Cree, did vie for the incredible abundance of wildlife. That was a dangerous and tough time.

Supporting Documents
• Archives Canada. See "Moise Vallée, scrip cert.: form D, no. 3215 for $30.00" On-line. Also, see Morris Papers, Memorandum to Minister of Interior, March 28, 1874. Letter Book G.
• Cowie, Isaac. The Company of Adventurers: A narrative of seven years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company during 1867-1874 on the great buffalo plains. Lincoln/London: University of Nebraska Press, 1993 (reprint of 1913 original)
• Glenbow Museum. MacLeod Letters. On-line.
• Palliser, Captain John. Papers relative to the Exploration of British North America by Captain Palliser. reprint by NY: Greenwood Press publishers. (original 1859 and 1860)

Jones Peak, 30 km SW of Chimney Coulee
images and text © D. Wall (except where otherwise noted)

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Isaac Cowie, when he was a young employee of the Hudson's Bay Company learning the ropes, and others travelled there from Qu'Appelle specifically to operate a HBC trading post during the winter of 1871/72.

Robert Jackson was one of Cowie's first choices because he was said to have skills as a Blackfoot translator. However, Robert, Cowie said, turned out not to be quite as advertised. Even so, Cowie traded with the Cree, Blackfoot, Assiniboines until it got too dangerous in the spring. They took thousands of furs, grizzly, elk, buffalo with them. Their carts were so laden with goods that they got stuck in the snow drifts often on the long drive back to Qu'Appelle.

The HBC never came back to the Coulee, opting to have the Métis trade for them and return the goods to various forts.

The Métis were a powerful force in the 1870s. Governor Morris noted that they refused to recognize the North West Council because they felt there was no law, let alone enforcement, especially around events like the massacre of 26 Assiniboines in the spring of 1873 and the dirty liquor trade. Their response was to begin setting up their own Council west of Qu'appelle.

Morris wrote on June 4, 1873 to the Métis leadership that there was law in the land particularly with police concentrated in the Cypress Hills.
Later still in the Cypress Hills, in the 1890s, Macleod and other Canadian administrators and the Churches had taken authority over most aspects of life in the area. Macleod was an efficient judge. He could pass a sentence of five years for illegally selling whisky - just like that - and you'd be on the train to Medicine Hat or into Fort Walsh before you could blink. A job well done he would muse and, then, go back to Fort Macleod or Calgary and have whisky himself with big Judge Wetmore or wiry Richardson, even with the Bishop, Cyprian Pinkham. He might even be back in time to have dinner with Haultain. He was a free man with lots of visitors and friends, but no wife on hand. No legal wife at least.

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With thanks for residence and research assistance from Eastend Arts Council and Stegner House



Taken from http://www.saskschools.ca/~mandelassash/newsite/metisfacts/metisfac...

Chimney Coulee - Chimney Coulee is located on the eastern edge of the Cypress Hills, about 7 kilometers north of the town of Eastend, Saskatchewan. In contrast to the bald prairie, Chimney Coulee offered a broad resource base from which winter camp subsistence could be maintained. The Chimney Coulee area also included many side valleys that could be utilized as effective protection against the winter storms. The crumbling remains of Chimney Coulee mark the site of a number of Metis cabins and encampments in which buffalo hunters and commercial traders wintered from the 1840s to the 1870s. Nearby Hudson Bay Company trader-explorer Issac Cowie established a trading post in 1871. A large band of Metis settled alongside Cowie. According to his account (I. Cowie, The Company of Adventurers: A Narrative of Seven Years in the Service of the Hudson's Bay Company During 1867-1874. Toronto: William Briggs, 1913, pg. 432), Cowie stated that:

"The Cypress Hills had become a neutral ground, which the hostile tribes of the surrounding country feared to enter for hunting purposes. Consequently, it had become a natural game preserve, occupied chiefly by red deer and grizzly bears. Our own Indians would not venture to accompany our party to winter there, but the number of Metis frequenting Qu'Appelle had been very largely increased by those who left or ceased to resort to Red River after the establishment of Canadian Government."

Cowie collected, in his single season at Chimney Coulee, 750 grizzly-bear pelts, 1,500 elk hides and hundreds of smaller skins, while the other independent traders in the vicinity added substantially to those numbers. As he was leaving Chimney Coulee in the early spring, Cowie witnessed a raiding party of Blackfoot Indians burning their wintering encampment to the ground. Despite the razing of the camp, at least sixty Metis hivernant families reoccupied Chimney Coulee in 1873. Moreover, by this time or shortly thereafter, the community became known as "Hunter's Settlement." Constitution Act of Canada - In 1982, nearly a century after their setback at Batoche, the Metis received the acknowledgement they had sought so defiantly in the latter part of the 19th century, when the Canadian federal government passed the Constitution Act of Canada. These acts recognized the Metis as a founding aboriginal people with its attendant implications for land claims and reparations. In other words, Section 35 of the Constitution Act of Canada, recognizes and affirms Metis Aboriginal Rights. This means that the Metis are an Aboriginal people under section 91 (24) of the Constitution Act (British North America Act) of 1867 and lands set aside and reserved for Aboriginals must also apply to the Metis.

Constitution of the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan - The Constitution of the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan is made up of 16 Articles. According to former MNS president, Gerald Morin, who, during his "President's Report to the Metis Nation Legislative Assembly at Batoche, July 21, 1994" stated, "The Constitution of the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan is an expression of our third Order of government (the federal and provincial governments constituting the other two Orders) and is based on our inherent right of self-government.... With the spirit and vision of our Metis ancestors we have adopted a new Constitution which contains all of the elements of a legitimate government. One of the most significant components of this Constitution is the creation of the Metis Nation Legislative Assembly. This Legislative Assembly is made up of the Provincial Metis Council and all Local Presidents across Saskatchewan. The Metis Legislative Assembly has the capacity to pass legislation and laws on behalf of our People in Saskatchewan. Through this process of lawmaking we will gradually assert our areas of jurisdiction as a Metis government--this for example could include jurisdiction over our land and resources, hunting/fishing/trapping, justice, educatiion, healthcare, economic development, etc. When we were structured under the Province's Non-Profit Corporations Act we did not have the capacity to make laws. This is probably the most significant feature of our new government based on our own Constitution. As well the Legislative Assembly finally gives our Local Presidents a legitimate and integral role within our government. The new Constitution also provides for an executive branch of our government. This executive branch is the Provincial Metis Council who are elected provincewide by one person-one vote ballot-box elections at least every three years. The Provincial Metis Council makes up the Council of Ministers and have Cabinet responsibilites and are responsible for introducing Legislation in the Assembly. The Ministers are accountable to the Assembly and ultimately to all their constituents through the ballot box.... Our Constitution also provides for a judicial branch of our government--this of course is the Senate of the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan. This is consistent with our culture and traditions as our elders and most respected members of our communities were called upon to resolve disputes and differences amongst our People.... Our Constitution also for the first time give guaranteed seats to Metis Women in the Provincial Metis Council and the Legislative Assembly."

Council of Assiniboia - Following the HBC and NWC merger of 1821, HBC Governor George Simpson established the Council of Assiniboia using a deed poll. Under this deed poll system, 40 per cent of the HBC's profits was consigned into 85 shares. 50 of these 85 shares were apportioned to 25 HBC Chief Factors (i.e. Chief Factor Lawrence Clarke of Carlton House) or, in other words, 2 shares per Chief Factor. 28 shares were apportioned to 28 chief traders and the remaining 7 shares were apportioned to a pension fund. Further to becoming shareholders in the HBC, the Chief Factors and the chief traders also took their seats on the Council of Assiniboia. Each and every council member, including the 25 Chief Factors, the 28 chief traders, the Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy, and the English- and French-speaking Metis representatives--with Governor George Simpson at the helm--were all expected to assist in the operation of the HBC, to govern the Red River Settlement, and to participate in any and all legal and policy decisions. All council members, however, were appointees by the HBC. Consequently, there were no elections and, thus, no elected/responsible government in the Red River Settlement.

Until 1834, the Selkirk family, assisted by appointed councillors, administered the government of Assiniboia (as the Red River Colony was variously known). The Governor of Rupert's Land-- an appointee of the Hudson's Bay Company--was the Company's overseer and kept a watchful eye on the activities of the Council of Assiniboia. In 1834, when the Hudson's Bay Company re-acquired ownership of Assiniboia from the Selkirk family, the Company retained the administrative organization of the Council of Assiniboia. Lord Selkirk and later, the Council of Assiniboia, recognized the duality of the French/English languages and the Catholic/Protestant religions in the Red River Settlement. The two school systems developed--simultaneously and side-by-side--and were equally supported by the Hudson's Bay Company and the Council of Assiniboia. This duality of religion, language and education was accepted, recognized and maintained when Manitoba became a province. Cuthbert Grant, who the Northwesters had named "Captain General of all the Half-Breeds" prior to the Battle of Seven Oaks (1816), was given--by the Hudson's Bay Company--the title "Warden of the Plains" and appointed to represent the Metis on the Council of Assiniboia which had been established to govern the Red River country.

Coureurs De Bois - After 1670 and the charter--giving all lands drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay--granted by King Charles II to "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay," commonly known as the Hudson's Bay Company, the French were busy seeking solutions to the loss (to the Hudson's Bay Company) of their Indian middlemen in the fur trade. The necessity of replacing these Indian middlemen gave rise to the Canadian coureurs de bois ("runners of the woods") who, in turn, became vital link in the fur trade. The freedom of the Canadian wilds, the sense of adventure, and "work for pay" enticed many a French youth to pursue the fur trade (legally or illegally) in the pays d'en haut (west of Grand Portage and later Fort William at the head of the Great Lakes). The coureurs de bois became the new middlemen. They travelled to the interior, contacted new tribes, explored new regions, traded with the Indians, brought the furs to the trading posts, and, last but certainly not least, fathered many Metis descendants.

taken from http://www.artandhistoryquest.com/historicplaces.htm

Chimney Coulee

(On east side of Eastend turn north on first road after bridge – there is a “Point of Interest” sign. Travel 6 km north. Chimney Coulee is on west side of road.)

The following information has been taken from Eastend’s history book.
“Isaac Cowie, an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), was sent to the east end of the Cypress Hills in the fall of 1871. His objective was to establish peaceful trading relations with the Blackfoot so that later a post could be situated in the region of the upper Saskatchewan River.”
The HBC and Metis constructed buildings in 1871 & 1872. The HBC stayed for one year. The post burnt down.
In 1873, about 60 Metis families erected log homes about 14 feet wide and 40 feet long. These buildings were partitioned about every 10 feet for each family. A stone fireplace was in each of these sections. At this time the place was known as Chapel Coulee.
The name Chimney Coulee came from the stone chimneys that were left standing after the homes of these early settlers disintegrated. The last of these chimneys collapsed in 1915. The name was officially approved in 1966.
In 1876 the NWMP built a permanent detachment to administer law and order for the local residents. The coming of the railway and the end of the 1885 Rebellion changed police work. The post was moved in 1887 to Whitemud River Valley “just to the south of the present CPR Bridge east of Eastend until 1914