A Son of the Fur Trade

The Memoirs of Johnny Grant

John Francis Grant, Gerhard J. Ens

• Publisher: University of Alberta Press
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780888644916
• eBook ISBN: 9781772124132
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Born in 1833 at Fort Edmonton, Johnny Grant experienced and wrote about many historical events in the Canada-US northwest, and died within sight of the same fort in 1907. Grant was not only a fur trader; he was instrumental in early ranching efforts in Montana and played a pivotal role in the Riel Resistance of 1869-70. Published in its entirety for the first time, Grant's memoir-with a perceptive introduction by Gerhard Ens-is an indispensable primary source for the shelves of fur trade and Métis historians.

Table of contents

• Front cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Maps
• Introduction
• Editorial Comments
• Acknowledgements
• Preface | Clothilde Grant
• 1 In which is set forth my birth and parentage
• 2 In which the little Bois Brulé meets with the gentler elatives in the east
• 3 In which a glimpse is had of child life in French Canada
• 4 Wherein the Bois Brulé’s pluck matches the eastern bully
• 5 Wherein he enters College and leaves it hurriedly
• 6 In which he parts with grief from his sister and his first love
• 7 In which he journeys from civilization to the frontier
• 8 In which he reaches Fort Hall where his father was in command
• 9 Wherein it is clear that he and his father were not made to agree
• 10 Wherein he prefers the hardships of the Vancouver trail to his home
• 11 In which the men of the Winter Express were reduced to eating horseflesh
• 12 In which something is related of the Douglas family and life at Fort Vancouver in 1849
• 13 Wherein his friends at the garrison introduce egg-nogg to him with fateful results
• 14 Wherein he leaves his father’s home and takes up life with the trappers
• 15 In which is related tales of an old trapper and how a new lodge was set up
• 16 Wherein various Indian tribes, and the Sioux Massacre are dealt with
• 17 Wherein my father retires after 43 years service with the Hudson’s Bay Company
• 18 Wherein he makes the acquaintance of several gamblers and desperadoes who haunted the traders’ camps along the Oregon Trail
• 19 In which he races horses with the desperadoes one of whom comes to a tragic end
• 20 In which he tells of his success in trading with the immigrants and of the massacre of one party by the Indians
• 21 In which he becomes the interpreter for Major Haller and accompanies a crude young lieutenant
• 22 In which he narrates some painful incidents in the Indian war
• 23 Wherein he ends his work with the soldiers and is obliged to leave the country
• 24 In which he joins his father and returns to trade with immigrants at Soda Springs
• 25 In which he tells of some pioneers, and of the Mormon Rising in 1857
• 26 In which he entertains some Indians royally and decides to form a settlement at Deer Lodge
• 27 Wherein is related something of the discovery of gold in Montana and the opening of new markets for the settlement in Deer Lodge Valley
• 28 Wherein Captain Grant —“Handsome” Grant—dies without leaving his son even the proverbial shilling
• 29 In which he builds the first good house in Deer Lodge Valley and with his Quarra, enters on a new period of existence
• 30 In which he rewards the honesty of Little Dog for restoring his stolen horses
• 31 Wherein he makes a couple of trips among the Indians in search of stolen horses; Brown, a discouraged companion, shoots himself
• 32 Wherein he tells of his big freighting outfit and of the advent of “bad men”— white robbers and murderers—intoMontana
• 33 In which the Vigilantes are seen to take the law in their own hands and the rascally sheriff is one of the first to be hanged
• 34 In which he lends his horse to the Vigilance Committee setting out from Hell’s Gate on their grim mission of death to law breakers
• 35 In which he tells of the decisive way in which the Vigilantes rid the country of highwaymen, three of them being hanged to the corners of Baron O’Keefe’s stable
• 36 Wherein he goes down to St. Louis by stage spending his money like water. He puts up at the Olive House and does business in a pleasant and leisurely way
• 37 In which he gives an insight into methods of doing business in St. Louis in the sixties when his purchases amounted to twenty-eight thousand dollars
• 38 Wherein he describes the tiresome stage journey from Omaha, where he had abandoned the still more tiresome Missouri boat. The stage upsets once and breaks the monotony. He kills his first buffalo
• 39 In which his milling venture did not satisfy his impatient nature, and he is tricked into disposing of it for three hundred gallons of homemade liquor
• 40 In which his new livery stable is burned, his pet saddle horse killed by a champagne bottle, and there is seen the beginning of the end of his days in Montana
• 41 In which Conrad Kohrs, afterward millionaire and Cattle King buys his ranch for $19,000
• 42 Wherein he and Johnny Healy have a taste of adventure and he loses his sack of gold nuggets on his trip to St. Louis
• 43 He suddenly determines to go back to Three Rivers from St. Louis instead of going up to the Red River and his wild western guise startles his relatives
• 44 In which he renews old friendships and revisits old scenes, his memory sharpened with many regrets
• 45 He returns to the west, reaching the Red River by way of St. Louis and Fort Abercrombie
• 46 Red River—My arrival at Mr. McKay’s
• 47 He describes the conditions of life in the Red River Settlement — their work and amusements; their probity and fine harmony
• 48 He returns to Montana and his family, bringing a company of Red River Half-breeds with him to bring his freight train of carts and wagons back to the Red River
• 49 On his arrival at Deer Lodge he finds his Quarra is dead, his business shattered and his trusted clerk leaving the country with saddle-bags heavy with gold
• 50 His life is threatened by a jealous Mexican whose hand is stayed by memories of old kindness; then leaving about $50,000 worth of property behind him he sets out for the Red River
• 51 The Red River caravan has a most amiable but tiresome encounter with a band of Blackfeet who are intensely appreciative of past kindness. Grant and his seven year old son running buffalo
• 52 A band of Assiniboine Indians next meet the caravan, and a double guard is straightaway put upon the horses at night
• 53 In which he is kept busy watching the Cree guide obtained in the Assiniboine camp, and his suspicions of treachery are fulfilled
• 54 He makes a new home for himself along the Red River valley and marries Clotilde Bruneau, the daughter of a county judge who was the leader of the French population around St. Boniface
• 55 He makes a trip to the United States for relief wheat
• 56 Governor McDougall coming from Canada is turned back at the boundary by Riel’s men, and Riel marching back to Fort Garry takes peaceful possession of the old post
• 57 The arrival of Mr. D.A. Smith as commissioner and the general meeting at Fort Garry
• 58 He is nominated as delegate to the Provisional Government but Riel remembering his part during the risingr efuses to recognize him as a delegate, and carrying his enmity further imprisons him
• 59 The Portage Uprising
• 60 In which he contracts to bring the Canadian Volunteers from the Red River to the Lake of the Woods. The trip is made with difficulty and Grant conceives a great contempt for the militiamen’s ability
• 61 First Election in Manitoba
• 62 Mr. D.A. Smith’s Election
• 63 My speculation in scrip
• 64 Change of Manitoba after the Transfer
• 65 Captain Moberley going west
• 66 Fever in my family
• 67 My first meeting with C. Allard partner of Mr. Pablo
• 68 The bad luck I had with giving my cattle [on] share
• 69 Property lost by fire
• 70 Bought a Saw Mill and Gristmill; Sailing on the railroad and selling land
• 71 My first trip to Montana
• 72 My return trip
• 73 My trip to BC and Alberta
• 74 Manitoba to Banff to Edmonton and back to Manitoba—1889 or 1890
• 75 The move [to] Alberta, 1891
• Notes
• Appendix 1: Genealogical Charts of the Grant Family | Anita Steele
• Appendix 2: Descriptive Genealogy of the Grant Family | Anita Steele
• Bibliography
• Index