🎄Two young Hudson's Bay Company employees journey to a Christmas party.
The cold, snowy days seemed painfully long to the young Hudson's Bay Company men, and winter was far from over. They had been holed up and isolated in Northern BC's Fort St. James for weeks when they received an unexpected invitation to a Christmas party at Fort McLeod at the north end of McLeod Lake. Finally, something other than spring to look forward to!
"1879::From Fort St. James to Fort McLeod, British Columbia" Map Clip: The Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News (1898)
London, England
The men dreamt about the dancing fun they would have and drooled about the food they would eat, and when it was time to leave for the party, they dressed warmly and harnessed their dogs to their sleigh. They were on their way!
"... and let me tell you, this means more to a poor fellow who camps out half his time and lives on dried fish and pemmican." - Harry B. Webster, HBC Employee (after receiving his Christmas Party invitation)
"1879::The Rain, the Slush, and the Journey to Fort McLeod" Sketch Clips: The Graphic (1879)
London, England
Their excitement grew as they travelled the snowy trek to Fort McLeod. But an hour into their journey, it began to rain. Then the rain turned to sleet. The dogs slipped and sank in the slushy snow until they lost control of the sleigh and hit a tree. Wet, cold, and still determined to make it to the Christmas party, the men untangled their dogs and continued on their Christmas journey.
"1879::Determined to Attend a Christmas Party" Sketch Clip: The Graphic (1880)
London, England
As the weather got worse, so did the trail. But the men forged ahead anyway, pulling their own sled when their dogs gave up the fight. They spent hours struggling with snowshoes that kept falling apart before finally reaching Long Lake, the last leg of their journey. Traversing a frozen lake was sure to make their home stretch easier than the challenge of a muddy trail. But as they set out across the ice, it was clear that the heavy rain had made the icy, slushy lake too treacherous to cross. It was impossible to continue on. Their only hope was to turn back. With exhausted dogs, broken snowshoes and broken hearts, the men retraced their steps and returned to their lonely fort.
"1879::A Lonely Fort St. James Christmas" Sketch Clip: The Graphic (1880)
London, England
The men arrived at their fort exhausted, frozen and starving, but scraped together what remained of their supplies and sat at their table to enjoy a humble Christmas pemmican dinner. It was a true Northern British Columbia Christmas to remember.
"1879::A Watercolour For The Graphic"
Watercolour Painting Clip: (tbd)
Harry Bullock-Webster, writer, artist, and Hudson's Bay Company employee in his younger years, had never been formally trained as a professional artist. However, his few sketches and life stories of early British Columbia became popular with readers of the famous London newspaper called The Graphic.
Whenever The Graphic received a drawing or painting from Bullock-Webster, their in-house illustrator would create a woodcut engraving of the image, which was then used to publish Bullock-Webster's artwork in their newspaper.
In 1881, Bullock-Webster inherited a fair sum of money from his mother's estate and sailed away from Victoria and British Columbia forever. He made his home in New Zealand, married the daughter of the wealthiest man in the country and became well-known by his famous Pakuranga Hounds.
"1877::Pemmican Recipe"
Clip: Chicago Tribune (1877)
Chicago, Illinois
Pemmican was the manna that kept men alive in the Hudson's Bay Company outposts throughout the Canadian wilderness. It became such a valued item that war eventually broke out over the production of the pemmican... but that story is for another day.