History Lesson(?)

During the Klondike Gold Rush, prospectors attempting to find an overland route to the Klondike headed out from Edmonton toward Lesser Slave Lake. They crossed the Athabasca River near Ft. Assiniboine and followed an old trail used for many years by the native population. They settled for the winter on the other side of the river, building a camp of sorts. The Bag Lady's knowlege of this is quite sketchy, learned mostly at her father's knee.

Around 1925, the Bag Lady's grandparents decided to move further north from their home in Central Alberta. Their house had burned down one day while they were in town, and they lost almost everything they owned. So they loaded up their meagre belongings and headed out for wilder country around the Athabasca River. They homesteaded at a place north of The Athabasca River on the Klondike Trail.

Not far from their homestead were the ruins of the camp left by those prospectors years before. The Bag Lady's father told her that when he was a child, there were a couple log buildings still standing, and the graves of two children.

To the best of the Bag Lady's knowledge, this is a photo of one of those abandoned buildings, taken around 1930.





This is a photo of the one-room school the Bag Lady's father and brothers attended. (this is included for the benefit of missicat, in honour of her grandmother.)

One of the Bag Lady's uncles told her that when he was a child, the natives still used the trail on their annual pilgrimage to Lac St. Anne. He can remember the natives would walk through the bush, silently appearing, and just as quietly slip away again.

Thus ends the history lesson for today. Sorry for any inaccuracies or blatant lies!