THE SPIRIT OF THE WEST
“What is the Spirit of the West?” I was asked when I began to write.
You have read the book? Then you have seen the fruits of that Spirit, in its actions and achievements. If that is not answer enough, here is the Spirit of the West as I have seen it; here are the dominant ideals of Western life.
The Spirit of Courage. The brave heart for a short heroic dash, and for persistence, more heroic still, through the long march to a distant goal. The spirit that never flinches at an obstacle or set-back, but fights its way through to victory. The spirit that finds pleasure in other toils than play, and saving humor in grave events which overwhelm a dull and bitter mind.
The Spirit of Independence. The spirit that takes pride in swimming the creeks in its way without waiting or shouting for some one else to fetch a boat.
The Spirit of Ambition—often hasty and overgrown in our exhilarating air of boundless possibilities, but, when turned by buffeting experience from the goal of quantity to that of quality, capable of winning both.
The Spirit of Truth. The ideals of frankness, candor, straightness and fair play. The spirit of scorn for crookedness, trickery, graft, lying and pretence, in business, politics and social life. The spirit that wants to think straight as well as act straight, refusing to deceive itself by prejudice and conventional parrot-phrases. The spirit of open-mindedness, of quick willingness to learn.
The Spirit of Unselfishness. The ideals of hospitality, sociability, geniality, generosity, and neighborly helpfulness.The Spirit of the West
Selfishness, envy and suspicion, an ill disposition to blame anyone but ourselves for every wrong; a passing frown of discouragement and complaint, sometimes with fair excuse; these you may find in the West, as you may strike a misty morning on the sunny plain or a hard frost on the balmy coast; but they are foreign to the Spirit of the West.
Without that Spirit, though the land should rise to gorgeous heights of moneyed wealth by perfecting its science of material production and commercial organization, the West would be poor and mean, a body without a soul.
Therefore, of all the proud ambitions of the West, the proudest is to keep that noble Spirit strong.
The Spirit has hours of weakness, but it soon revives, to proclaim with the strength of a giant refreshed—
“In the fell clutch of circumstanceI have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chanceMy head is bloody, but unbowed.“It matters not how strait the gate,How charged with punishment the scroll.I am the master of my fate,I am the captain of my soul.”
“In the fell clutch of circumstanceI have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chanceMy head is bloody, but unbowed.“It matters not how strait the gate,How charged with punishment the scroll.I am the master of my fate,I am the captain of my soul.”
“In the fell clutch of circumstanceI have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chanceMy head is bloody, but unbowed.
“In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
“It matters not how strait the gate,How charged with punishment the scroll.I am the master of my fate,I am the captain of my soul.”
“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll.
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
THE END
INDEX
Adventures, life full of them,2.Agriculture,54;ranching,127;mixed farming,129;fruit,164;irrigation,169;bees,170;improving livestock,171,177;“We have to Learn,”174;enormous production,178;need of co-operation,178,183;“semi-tropical,”179;the small farmer,181;grain growing and dairying,183,191.Air patrol,166.Animal and plant life: pre-historic,4;modern,14,15,131,197;beaver,35;his achievements and value,35,192,193;buffalo,18,20,45,48,54,129;wholesale slaughter,61;collecting his bones,127;present increase,192;caribou,46,187;coyote and antelope,17,131;dogs,10,20;bred for wool,72;horses,19,23;maize11;trees,140;far north,188.Arctic Ocean: Hearne’s arrival,47;Mackenzie’s,50.British brotherhood of nations,28,156,200.British justice,79,137.British Navy’s task,160.Calgary,105,129,169.Climates,169,175,179.Coats, Capt.,47,58,85.Columbia River,50.Coppermine River,46.Dominion formed,88;width North to South,189.Edmonton in 1846,60;in 1905,151,196.Empires, British and United States,156.Eskimo,10,47;massacred by Indians,48.Exploration, Spanish and British,25;Norse,26;French,26;Cartier, Champlain,26;La Salle,27;Frobisher, Hudson,28;Radisson and Groseillers,30;Vérendrye,41;Kellsey, Hendry,44;Hearne,46;Mackenzie,49;Thompson,50;Fraser,51;Lewis and Clark,51;Franklin,64;McClure,65;Drake, Cook,69;Palliser, Hector,84;Amundsen,66;Stefansson,188.Fisheries,161,187.Fleming, Sir Sandford,159.Forest,15,161;fires,161;air patrol,166.Fort Carlton,61.Fort Chipewyan,49.Fort de la Corne,45.Fort Cumberland,48.Fort Pitt,62.Fort Rouge,42.Fort Vancouver,72.Fossils: giant lizards,5;trilobites,7;mammoth,8;horses,19.Fraser River,49,51.Freighting,141.French Cession of Canada to British,27.Fur trade,26;French monopoly,32;buffalo skins,35;beaver in fashion,37;scene at trading post,39;“Free Traders,”41;the traders’ life,56;sea otter,73,151;fur farming,192;statistics,193.Gardens,147,197.Gas, natural,170.Great Slave Lake, discovery,48.Hudson’s Bay,28;Company formed,33;its powers,37;French raids and competition,40,49;traders sent up country,44;Scottish-Canadian rivals,45;North West Company formed,49;Companies at war,52;the rivals unite,56;Company’s rule extended to Pacific,56;Simpson’s journeys,59;Company and Indians,85,91;Territory enters Dominion,88;Company continues,151,188.Hudson Straits navigation,57.Indians, origin of,9;southward migration,11;industry and art,11,12,21,74;baking and gardening,12;Mexican and Peruvian civilization,12,13;the Six Nations,13;lacrosse,13;Algonquins,14;mound builders,16;a night raid,16;travoys,20;agriculture,16,21;story telling,22;dancing,64,74;racing and betting,63,73;slavery,73;Flat-heads,74;kindness and barbarity,85.Indian tribal fighting,21,23,85;Sioux and Cree,31;Saulteaux and Sioux,61;Blackfoot and Cree,63,87.Indian treaties,93;refugees from United States,95;Sitting Bull,96.Indians and Métis,99;Indians farming,139.Kane, Paul: artist’s journey in 1846,60.King and president,136.Lake and river route to West,59.Liquor and Indians,55.Mackenzie River,49,189,190.Manufactures,167,168.Métis, the,49;revolts,89,98;a hospitable family,133.Migrations of men,2,9,24,148.Minerals: coal,7,81,167;copper,21,46;gold, etc., in B.C.,75,161,165;potters’ clay,171.Missionaries: Evans prints in Cree,86;peacemaker Lacombe,87.Mississippi,27;discovery,31.Mountains, birth of,7;first sight of Rockies,43;an Alpine paradise,165.Mounted Police and frontier crime,91;force organized,92;Col. MacLeod’s reign of law,93;in the Arctic,189.Northern Territory and Islands: caribou pasture,187;reindeer,188;Government stations,189;wireless,190.North-west Passage,26,29;Franklin’s last voyage,64;passage discovered,66;Amundsen gets through,66;Captain Cook’s attempt,69.Ogilby, John, his book,36.Pacific Coast: Mackenzie’s arrival,50;Hudson’s Bay Co.,56,71;claims of Spain and United States,70;frontier agreement,71;early ranching,72;Kane’s visit in 1847,72;Coast Indian ways,73;colony under company,75;gold rush,75;company rule ended,76;Cariboo trail,77;Judge Begbie keeps order,79;Province of British Columbia formed, enters Dominion,81;United States and San Juan Island,81;the Province to-day,159.Peace River,189,191.Pemmican,19;war,54.Politics: the art of living together,153.Portage la Prairie,42.Prairie primeval,14;first inhabitants,16;the prairie in 1905,129;to-day,167.Prince Rupert,33,161.Provinces formed: Manitoba,90;British Columbia,81;Alberta and Saskatchewan,151;Dimensions,180.Railway, Transcontinental, proposed,84;its necessity,117;built by Canadian Pacific Co.,120;last spike driven,122;irrigation,169;C.N.R.,60,161,172;Winnipeg yards,184.Regina,127,171.Red River rising of 1870,89.Riel rebellion of 1885,98;Duck Lake fight,99;Frog Lake massacre,101;Big Bear and Fort Pitt,102;army from the East,103;Cutknife Hill,106;Fish Creek,111;Batoche,112;Indian chiefs’ surrender,112;battlefield twenty years after,139.Rupert’s Land,38;enters Dominion,88.Saskatchewan rivers discovered,43.Saskatoon,142.Schools and colleges,180,185,195.Settlement: Lord Selkirk’s pioneers,53,85;door opened by railway,124;Eastern Canadians,124,132,140,148;British newcomers,126,133,141,149,164;from United States,130,135,147,152;French-Canadians,138;Scandinavians,142,187;Slavs,142,152,194;Doukhobors,145,165;a pioneer family in the North,161;“The land is Canada’s,”176;new plans needed,181;homesteading,191;brush land,192,194;Canada and “New Canadians,”195;racial blending,198.Shipping,160.Territorial Government,153.Thompson River,49.Trade, Oriental,25,160.Travel, ways of,20,57;in 1872,159;189.Unicorn,36.Vancouver,123,160.Victoria,159;observatory,159.War, the,164.Water Powers,167,187.Western Canada: size and variety,3,158,180;pre-historic state,4;ignorance of its capacity,83;S. J. Dawson finds a “Paradise of Fertility,”83;the West in 1905,128;Central Alberta,129;hospitality,135;a stopping place,147;the country now,158;children,162,185;simple and high living,163;better houses,172;telephones,172;tree planting,173;nomadic instinct survives,174;automobiles,177;“Extravagance,”177;recreation,185;national defence,185;music,197;“The Spirit of the West,”201.White men reach America,23.Winnipeg: Fort Rouge founded,42;Kane’s visit,60,184.Wireless,166.Yukon,190.
Adventures, life full of them,2.
Agriculture,54;
ranching,127;
mixed farming,129;
fruit,164;
irrigation,169;
bees,170;
improving livestock,171,177;
“We have to Learn,”174;
enormous production,178;
need of co-operation,178,183;
“semi-tropical,”179;
the small farmer,181;
grain growing and dairying,183,191.
Air patrol,166.
Animal and plant life: pre-historic,4;
modern,14,15,131,197;
beaver,35;
his achievements and value,35,192,193;
buffalo,18,20,45,48,54,129;
wholesale slaughter,61;
collecting his bones,127;
present increase,192;
caribou,46,187;
coyote and antelope,17,131;
dogs,10,20;
bred for wool,72;
horses,19,23;
maize11;
trees,140;
far north,188.
Arctic Ocean: Hearne’s arrival,47;
Mackenzie’s,50.
British brotherhood of nations,28,156,200.
British justice,79,137.
British Navy’s task,160.
Calgary,105,129,169.
Climates,169,175,179.
Coats, Capt.,47,58,85.
Columbia River,50.
Coppermine River,46.
Dominion formed,88;
width North to South,189.
Edmonton in 1846,60;
in 1905,151,196.
Empires, British and United States,156.
Eskimo,10,47;
massacred by Indians,48.
Exploration, Spanish and British,25;
Norse,26;
French,26;
Cartier, Champlain,26;
La Salle,27;
Frobisher, Hudson,28;
Radisson and Groseillers,30;
Vérendrye,41;
Kellsey, Hendry,44;
Hearne,46;
Mackenzie,49;
Thompson,50;
Fraser,51;
Lewis and Clark,51;
Franklin,64;
McClure,65;
Drake, Cook,69;
Palliser, Hector,84;
Amundsen,66;
Stefansson,188.
Fisheries,161,187.
Fleming, Sir Sandford,159.
Forest,15,161;
fires,161;
air patrol,166.
Fort Carlton,61.
Fort Chipewyan,49.
Fort de la Corne,45.
Fort Cumberland,48.
Fort Pitt,62.
Fort Rouge,42.
Fort Vancouver,72.
Fossils: giant lizards,5;
trilobites,7;
mammoth,8;
horses,19.
Fraser River,49,51.
Freighting,141.
French Cession of Canada to British,27.
Fur trade,26;
French monopoly,32;
buffalo skins,35;
beaver in fashion,37;
scene at trading post,39;
“Free Traders,”41;
the traders’ life,56;
sea otter,73,151;
fur farming,192;
statistics,193.
Gardens,147,197.
Gas, natural,170.
Great Slave Lake, discovery,48.
Hudson’s Bay,28;
Company formed,33;
its powers,37;
French raids and competition,40,49;
traders sent up country,44;
Scottish-Canadian rivals,45;
North West Company formed,49;
Companies at war,52;
the rivals unite,56;
Company’s rule extended to Pacific,56;
Simpson’s journeys,59;
Company and Indians,85,91;
Territory enters Dominion,88;
Company continues,151,188.
Hudson Straits navigation,57.
Indians, origin of,9;
southward migration,11;
industry and art,11,12,21,74;
baking and gardening,12;
Mexican and Peruvian civilization,12,13;
the Six Nations,13;
lacrosse,13;
Algonquins,14;
mound builders,16;
a night raid,16;
travoys,20;
agriculture,16,21;
story telling,22;
dancing,64,74;
racing and betting,63,73;
slavery,73;
Flat-heads,74;
kindness and barbarity,85.
Indian tribal fighting,21,23,85;
Sioux and Cree,31;
Saulteaux and Sioux,61;
Blackfoot and Cree,63,87.
Indian treaties,93;
refugees from United States,95;
Sitting Bull,96.
Indians and Métis,99;
Indians farming,139.
Kane, Paul: artist’s journey in 1846,60.
King and president,136.
Lake and river route to West,59.
Liquor and Indians,55.
Mackenzie River,49,189,190.
Manufactures,167,168.
Métis, the,49;
revolts,89,98;
a hospitable family,133.
Migrations of men,2,9,24,148.
Minerals: coal,7,81,167;
copper,21,46;
gold, etc., in B.C.,75,161,165;
potters’ clay,171.
Missionaries: Evans prints in Cree,86;
peacemaker Lacombe,87.
Mississippi,27;
discovery,31.
Mountains, birth of,7;
first sight of Rockies,43;
an Alpine paradise,165.
Mounted Police and frontier crime,91;
force organized,92;
Col. MacLeod’s reign of law,93;
in the Arctic,189.
Northern Territory and Islands: caribou pasture,187;
reindeer,188;
Government stations,189;
wireless,190.
North-west Passage,26,29;
Franklin’s last voyage,64;
passage discovered,66;
Amundsen gets through,66;
Captain Cook’s attempt,69.
Ogilby, John, his book,36.
Pacific Coast: Mackenzie’s arrival,50;
Hudson’s Bay Co.,56,71;
claims of Spain and United States,70;
frontier agreement,71;
early ranching,72;
Kane’s visit in 1847,72;
Coast Indian ways,73;
colony under company,75;
gold rush,75;
company rule ended,76;
Cariboo trail,77;
Judge Begbie keeps order,79;
Province of British Columbia formed, enters Dominion,81;
United States and San Juan Island,81;
the Province to-day,159.
Peace River,189,191.
Pemmican,19;
war,54.
Politics: the art of living together,153.
Portage la Prairie,42.
Prairie primeval,14;
first inhabitants,16;
the prairie in 1905,129;
to-day,167.
Prince Rupert,33,161.
Provinces formed: Manitoba,90;
British Columbia,81;
Alberta and Saskatchewan,151;
Dimensions,180.
Railway, Transcontinental, proposed,84;
its necessity,117;
built by Canadian Pacific Co.,120;
last spike driven,122;
irrigation,169;
C.N.R.,60,161,172;
Winnipeg yards,184.
Regina,127,171.
Red River rising of 1870,89.
Riel rebellion of 1885,98;
Duck Lake fight,99;
Frog Lake massacre,101;
Big Bear and Fort Pitt,102;
army from the East,103;
Cutknife Hill,106;
Fish Creek,111;
Batoche,112;
Indian chiefs’ surrender,112;
battlefield twenty years after,139.
Rupert’s Land,38;
enters Dominion,88.
Saskatchewan rivers discovered,43.
Saskatoon,142.
Schools and colleges,180,185,195.
Settlement: Lord Selkirk’s pioneers,53,85;
door opened by railway,124;
Eastern Canadians,124,132,140,148;
British newcomers,126,133,141,149,164;
from United States,130,135,147,152;
French-Canadians,138;
Scandinavians,142,187;
Slavs,142,152,194;
Doukhobors,145,165;
a pioneer family in the North,161;
“The land is Canada’s,”176;
new plans needed,181;
homesteading,191;
brush land,192,194;
Canada and “New Canadians,”195;
racial blending,198.
Shipping,160.
Territorial Government,153.
Thompson River,49.
Trade, Oriental,25,160.
Travel, ways of,20,57;
in 1872,159;189.
Unicorn,36.
Vancouver,123,160.
Victoria,159;
observatory,159.
War, the,164.
Water Powers,167,187.
Western Canada: size and variety,3,158,180;
pre-historic state,4;
ignorance of its capacity,83;
S. J. Dawson finds a “Paradise of Fertility,”83;
the West in 1905,128;
Central Alberta,129;
hospitality,135;
a stopping place,147;
the country now,158;
children,162,185;
simple and high living,163;
better houses,172;
telephones,172;
tree planting,173;
nomadic instinct survives,174;
automobiles,177;
“Extravagance,”177;
recreation,185;
national defence,185;
music,197;
“The Spirit of the West,”201.
White men reach America,23.
Winnipeg: Fort Rouge founded,42;
Kane’s visit,60,184.
Wireless,166.
Yukon,190.