Information given by Joseph LaFromboise and Interviewed by Frank O'Leary of Neche, Pembina County, North Dakota.
Source: North Dakota State University-North Dakota Institute of Reginal Studies-NDSU Archives
Transcribed from original hand-written text.
Vera Moore
(3rd Great Grand Niece)
1 Family Data:
Pioneer Wife or husband Husband Father Husband Mother Wife father Wife Mother
Name: Joseph LaFramboise, Mary Lucier, Louis LaFromboise, Marie Louise Martel, Ama?? Lucier, Angeline..... (Boyer)
Address or
date and place
of death: Neche, Neche, Died Neche 19 Mar. 1895, Died Walhalla Dakota Terr., Red Lake, Minnesota 1910, St. Joseph Dakota Terr. 1898
Birth Date: 10 July, 1859, 15 June, 1866, 1832...(1824), 1836 (abt. 1830), 1815, 1848
Birth Place: Walhalla, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Canada, Minnesota, St. Joseph, Dakota Territory
Nationality: French, French, French, French, French, French (French-Metis)
Date came to US: 0, 12 April, 1871, 1856, 1856, 0, 0
Usual
Occupation: Labor, house wife, Trapper/log builder, house wife, Fishing/Trapping, House wife
2. Husband's Brother's and Sister's: Total no. brothers: 1 Total no. sisters: 5 , (2 half-brothers) ....my note: Paul and Michel, their mother Josephine ALLARD
Names of those who have lived Dakota, where, Dates, Present Address (if dead give date)
Elsie LaFromboise, Neche, 1968-1928, Neche, North Daktoa
Mary LaFromboise, Neche Dakota Territory, 1920 (my note: Mary the eldest in my GGG-Grandmother, she died after. 1906 and before 1910)
Julia LaFromboise, Bismarck, 1868-1921, 1921 ( Julie and Daniel Olson came to Bis. abt. 1878 )
Maggie LaFromboise, Grafton, 1858-1918, 1920
Clemence LaFromboise, Grand Forks, 1862-1924, 1910-1924 (1910 is written above 1924)
3. Wife's Brothers and Sisters: Total no. brothers: 2 Total no. sisters: 1
Names of those who have lived Dakota, where, Dates, Present Address (if dead give date)
Adam Lucier, Walhalla, 1864-1890, Red Lake Falls, Minnesota
Joe Lucier, Walhalla, 1858-1918, 1919
Cecilia Lucier, Walhalla, 1882-1917, Brainerd, Minnesota
4. Date Married: 12 July, 1882 Where: St. Joseph By Whom: Father Bonin?
5. CHILREN: Star(*) those that married Number: 7 (12 names are below ???)
Name (give married names of daughters, Present address or date and place of death, birth Place, birth date
Marina LaFromboise, Olga May 1883, Olga Dakota Territory, 1883
*Delphine HEINZ, 25 June, 19( )1, Elkwood, 1885
*Mary ST----, Minnepolis, MN, Dakota Territory, 1887
* Rosanna LEACH, died 1921, Neche 1890
Zifera LaFromboise, died 1894, Neche 1892
*Alberti LaFromboise, Millwaukee, Wis., Neche, 1894
*Jame LaFromboise, died 4 July, 1935, Neche 1896
Frank LaFromboise, Neche, ND, Neche 1898
Martin LaFromboise, Neche, ND, Neche 1900
*Harriet BLANKHOLM, Minnepolis, MN, Neche 1902
William LaFromboise, Neche, Neche 1905
Eddie LaFromboise, San Francisco, Cal.
6. Pioneers Trip to Dakota Territory (former home )
Does Not Apply
7. 1st Dakota Home: sec: 20 twp: 163 Rge: 56 Date filed: 1856 Post Office: St. Joe
When built: 1856 By whom: by father Materials used: Logs No. rooms: 1
No. doors: 1 Date moved in: 1856 Dimentions: 18x20 No. windows: 2
No. years used: 9 Lighted: Candle
Furnishings: Homemade Beds and chairs
Type of stove: Mud Chimney Fuel used: Wood Obtained: near by
Price: $2.00 Where secured food: Walhalla Prices of Flour: $2.00 #100LBS
Salt: 1c LB Sugar: $5.00 #100LBS Coffee: no coffee
First water: Well 1st Well: 1856 In home: Beaver Caps, Coon Skin
1st crop: corn No. acres: 1 Animals used: Oxen&Ponys
year: 1856 Yield: 5---- Machinery used: Red River Carts
8. Officed held: 0
9. Ever in army or navy; 0
10. First School: (Near 1st Dakota Home) Name of School: Catholic Convent
Where held 1st Classes: Convent Date: 1845 In term: 12 Bldg: Catholics
1st Teacher: Sister Ketchie Paid by whom: Congregation Amt: Meat, Flour, Potatoes Present Address: dead
No. Pupils: 50-60 Names:
Grades included: 1st-6th Textbooks: 0 Furnished by: Catholics
Date 1st Board: 1845 Members: Father Belcourt, Charlie Bottineau, Charlie Grant
Location 1st building: sec 20-163-56 Land secured from whom: Indians Cost: 0
By whom built: Catholics Cost: 0 Materials used: Logs
Dimentions: 50x100 Windows: 12 Stove: Heater Fuel used: Wood
How Furnished: Homemade seats and desk bldg used:
Moved: Tore down Present: Present owner:
Land owned by residents
11. Pioneer's First Dakota Church: Denomination: Catholic
Date of 1st Service: 1845 Where held: Convent
1st Minister: Father Belecourt Address: dead Yrs. Served: 9
Name of Congregation: Ro----- Catholics Members: 152
Location 1st Bldg: Sec: 20 Twp: 162-36 From whom: Indians Cost:
By whom built: Father Belecourt Cost: Material: Logs
Dimentions: 30x40 No. Windows: 4 No. Doors: 1 Steeple: none
No. years building used: 9 Stove: Heater Fuel used: Wood
Furnished: Home made seats Moved: torn down Remodled: New Church
12. Township History: Present name: Walhalla Twp: 163 Rge: 56
1st. Settler: Charlie Grant Date: 1845
1st White Child: English Ministers Child Born: 1844 Birth: Walhalla, Dak. Territory
Present Address:0 Names of Parents: English Minister by the name of SCOTT
1st Marriage: Joseph Roletet Sara Trotter Date: 1867
Place: Walhalla Dakota Territory Present address: died Turtle Mountain
1st Death: Louie Longre? Date: 1866 Cause: Shot Where Buried: Walhalla
1st Cemetery: Walhalla, Dakota Territory Date: 1845 Land Discription: Sec 20 right where the Catholica Church is now
13: List names and give location of first pioneer tradesman and professional people such as hotelkeepers, saloonkeepers, storekeepers, blacksmiths, doctors, lawyers, mid-wives, teachers, pastors, postmasters, etc., and county and township officers, on seperate sheet of paper. Give present addresses of those that are living. Tell someting of interset about each. Tell the date each came, what business in, how long in buisness, where buisness place was, and what is at the place now.
14. Relics and Source Material: Has pioneer any early letters, newspapers, heirlooms, diaries, manuscripts, family histories, school textbooks, Indian articles, relics, etc? NONE . If so, list describe, and give history of on seperate sheet of paper. Which will he donate: NONE
Members of family giving information: Joseph Lafromboise & Wife
Dates of visits: (1937)
Field Worker: Frank O'Leary Address: Neche, N. Dak.
Mr. Joseph LaFromboise talks of the capture, hanging and burial of Louis Reil, the man that started the Reil Rebelion in Manitoba Canada.
Mr. LaFramboise says that he knew Louis Reil the Rebel Leader very well. He remembers the flight of Reil from Fort Gary, Manitoba in 1869. Louis Reil came to Neche Dak Territory in 1869 after his flight from Ft. Gary Manitoba. He brought his mother and two brothers with him, one of his brothers names was Joe Reil. MR LaFramboise does not remember the younger brothers name. Louis Reil his mother and two brothers lived here about one year, then his mother and two brothers went back to Canada to a place called St. Vital, Manitoba a short way from Ft. Gary in 1870. After Louis Reils mother and brothers went back to Canada, Louis Reil left Neche Dakota Territory in 1870 and went down south to Missouri. Loius Reil came back here in 1877 and worked for Andrew Mortineau 9 miles
west of Neche Dakota Territory until 1878 then left and went to Montana. When he got to Montana he crossed the International Boundry and went into Saskatchewan at a place named Regina. Just as soon as he got to Saskatchewan he started the second Reil Rebellion. When General Middleton of the Canadian Army heard that Reil was back in Canada he got the soldiers together and left with them for the west to get Reil. When the soldiers got to Saskatchewan Reil had already gathered a large number of Halfbreeds and Cree Indians under his command. An Indian Chief names Chief Pankup? was Chief of the Crees. Reil and his command killed hundreds of Canadian soldiers. Reils Indians would get hid above the river and hills and was hard for the soldiers to know where the force was coming from. At last Reils ammunition gave out, but Gereral Medelton did not know that Reil was short of ammunition and was about to give up the fight when a catholic priest Mr. LaFromboise does not remember the priests name got information that Reil was out of ammunition and told General Medilton? about it. The General than left right after him and at last Reil surrendered to the General, that was late in the spring of 1888. The General had Reil jailed and then had a trial. Reil was found guilty of starting a Rebellion against Canada, and General Medelton? had Reil hung in November 1888. After the hanging Reil's body was loaeded on a rail road box car and sent east to Fort Gary Manitoba for burial. A Catholic Priest Father Longree accompanied the body from Regina to Fort Gary where it was buried. Mr. LaFromboise says when the body arrived at Fort Gary a large number of English people wanted to take the body, but soldiers kept them away. Mr. Joseph LaFromboise and a man named Bedou dug the grave for Louis Reil's body at Fort Gary Manitoba. he Canadian Government lock(ed) up about 200 Halfbreeds and Indians tht were with Reil. But after Reil was hung the Government let all the Halfbreeds and Indians go. Louis Reil was a second cousin of Mrs. Joseph LaFromboise
The Windows in Mr. LaFromboise first home in Walhalla Dakota Territory in 1856 were made of buffalo skins. Then in 1866 Mr. LaFromboise (Louis) put in a window sash with 4 lights size 10x8.
Mr LaFromboise clothes in 1865 were made of elk skin, moose skin, bear skin and buffalo hide. He did not where any underclothes at that time.
The first Indian fight between he Sioux and Chippewas, there was 2 Sioux Indians and 5 Chippewa killed. Mr. LaFromboise only remembers one Indian names Schoekin he was a Chippewa Indian. He dont know the leader of the Sioux or Chippewas. There were 25-30 Sioux and abut 50-60 Chippewa in the fight.
In the party that trapped around Walhalla Dakota Territory with Mr. LaFromboise was Edward Longie, Henry Portrois, Baltese Shorout, this was about 1869. Mr LaFromboise used the regular traps not quite the same as they are now, but made on the same principle.
Mr. LaFromboise says that the first prairie fire that he remembers is was in the spring of 1866 it burnt all the prairie grass for miles around. Mr. LaFromboise tells of his father Louis LaFromboise telling him about a prairie fire in 1852. Louis Lafromboise's sister and daughter were visiting relatives about 3 miles east of Walhalla Dakota Territory when the fire started, and when the sister and daughter saw it coming they started back to Walhalla Dakota Territory and got smothered by the smoke and fire and were burt to death. Their bodies were found the same day that they were burnt.
Joseph LaFromboise tells about a bad prairie fire on Oct 26, 1870. Mr LaFromboise was working for Charlie Bottineau 3 miles west of Neche Dakota Territory. It was in the evening and Mr. Bottineau, Louis LaFromboise and himself were butcherin a hog when Mr. Bottineau saw the fire coming down from the north. He had Mr. Joseph LaFromboise saddle one of his ponys and go and look for the rest of his horses. Mr Bottineau's horses were running wild out on the prairie. Mr Bottineau had about a hundred head of hourses. Mr. LaFramboise started out looking for the horses. He went up north into Manitoba and after he had gone nine miles north and three miles west of Altuna, Manitoba he could see the hourses on a hill, the hill was called Calf Mountain. The fire was nearly all around this hill. So Mr. LaFromboise went over to the hill and got the hourses and brought them home to Charlie Bottineau's place 3 miles west of Neche Dakota Territory. He got back about 11 O'Clock at night. Altuna Man. is about 9 miles north of Neche. Charle Bottineau's farm buildings were fenced with pole fences and when Mr. LaFramboise got back with te horses, Mr. Bottineau and Louie LaFramboise were fighting the fire trying to keep it from burning his fences and buildings. Mr Bottineau and Louie LaFromboise were burning a fire broke close to the fences and buildings. Mr LaFromboise says that this fire burnt a strip 40 miles wide and 100 miles long, when it got to the Pembina and Red Rivers it stopped.
Mr. LaFromboise says that there were no buildings at the time between Altuna, Man. and Mr. Bottineau's place. Mr LaFromboise says that the prairie was all black as far as you could see the next morning, so he had to take Charlie Bottineau's horses over on the south side of the Pembina River for grazing, the river being about 1 mile south of Bottineau's farm. Mr. LaFomboise says at that time the bull dog flies were very bad on the stock in the day time, and at night it would be mosquitos.
Story by Mr. Joseph LaFromboise
Mr. LaFromboise was born in Dak. Territory at a place now called Walhalla N. Dak on July 10th 1959. His father built a log house in Dakota Territory in 1856 in what is called the city of Walhalla, N. Dak. now. For windows he used buffalo skins. He would rub the skins down untill they were very thin then stretch it across where there was a place cut in the logs for windows. No one could see in and if you were in the house you could not see out through these windows, but it made it light in the log house. What clothes we did not make out of furs were bought from the Hudson Bay Company.
The first tradesman at Walhalla Dakota Territory in 1856 was a man by the name of Kittson he was a Scotch half breed. There was another Tradesman here by the name of Charley Bottineau. Mr Bottineau bought Kittson out. The first Dr. was a man by the name of Pelon, he came from Redwood, Minnesota. The Indians around Walhalla, Dak. Territory in 1863 and 1864 while the Civil War was going on killed a lot of people, but when the war was over, and the soldiers came to Walhalla Dak. Terr., the Indians skipped across the line into Canada. A man by the name of Thomas Tarous a civil war veteran came to Walhalla Dak. Terr. in 1865 and worked for Charlie Bottineau. Mr. Bottineau was the man that took James J. Hill to St. Paul with Red River Cart and "...." from his farm home Three and a half miles north west of Neche N. Dak. That was about 1870. Mr. Hill later took Charlie Bottineau to St. Paul to live and Mr. Bottineau died at his place in St. Paul. He would trap all around Walhalla Dak Terr. in 1864. He trapped beaver, rabbits, and shot antelope west of Walhalla. There were lots of buffalo about 60 miles west of Walhalla in 1864. He used to pick up buffalo bones and haul them by Red River Carts east to Pembina on the Red River, there they were loaded on boats and shipped to St. Paul. He used to tan buffalo and deer hides and made their own moccasins, mits and suits out of the hides. Mrs. LaFromboise says that her father made a suit of tanned buffalo skins and that it was a soft as a woolen blanket. She would make her own bed ticks out of the buffalo hides and put wild goose and duck feathers in them. The last one that she made was the year she was married, that was in 1882 fifty six years ago. Mr. LaFromboise says that the worst blizzard he ever saw was at Walhalla. It started on Jan. 16th 1866 it lasted for trhee days and nights. His father had left home about fours days before for the Turlte Mountains with four dogs hitched to a tobaggon to get a load of buffalo hides and on the road back the blizzard overtook him and he got lost and he staid in a snow bank for two days till the blizzard let up. And while he was gone his mother got lost in the same blizzard and perished. His father found here eight days later in a snow bank about 30 yds. from the house. There was so much snow that he could not use pony's at all. He used dogs and a tobaggan to take the body to the church for the funeral. In 1866 the Delorme family were living one and a half miles east of Walhalla and one sunday some of the family went to church and four of them staid at home, three men and an old lady. Several indians were up on the mountain watching the house and when most of the family left for church the indians came down and killed the three men, Mr. Dolorme and his two sons but did not harm the Grandmother . Several people had seen some strange indians around Walhalla and they looked like civilized indians. So after this much took place they left, and the people reported this to the indian agency at Devils Lake and they started to check in the reservation at Devils Lake and got the right indians after they had confessed. The authorities at Devils Lake told them they could leave the reservation and when they started out across the prairie the soldiers shot them. They were Sioux Indians. Mr. LaFromboise and the whites knew on the the Delormes that went to church that day, her name was Betsy Delorme. She afterwords married a man by the name of Frank Russell he was a French-Canadian. Mrs. Russell was a cancer specialist, she had plants that chew the cancers out. She owned a hospital at Winnipeg it was on Portage Avenue about 4 miles west from the heart of Winnipeg Manitoba. The name of the hospital was called the Cancer Home. Mrs. Russell sold her property in Winnepeg in 1923 and moved to the Turtle Mountains where she bought a large home and Seventy Acres of land. There she practiced her cancer cure until July 05 1924 when she died. Mrs. Russell used a plants to draw out the cancers and she would keep about 100 of them in alcohol in glass jars. Mr. LaFromboise and the whites have saw lots of cancers that she draw out with her plants. Mrs. Frank O'Leary of Neche N. Dak. was her assisstant for nine years and when she died the secret was left to Mrs. Frank O'Leary, Neche, N.Dakota.
Mr. LaFromboise made lots of Pemmican, he would slice the buffalo meat in thin sloces and put it out to dry good, andafter it was good and dry he would put it on a wire over a fire to cook a little , then he would put it on a buffalo hide and would pound it with clubs untill it was good and fine, then he would take part of a buffalo hide and wet the hide and make a sack abot the size of a 100lb. flour sack, then they would put this fine meat in the sack and pound it good to pack it, then they put in a little at a time and packed it , they they would pour in Buffalo tallow, then some more fine meat. When the sack was full they sewed it up with sinew. Then they would pack it in a Red River Cart with a buffalo hide streched over the cart to keep the rain out. In this way it would keep for years. It was very good food. When they wanted to use some they would cut some off and put it in a pan with a little water and it made a great stew. He would take the buffalo bones and pound them very fine like flour and boil them and make buffalo butter, it was yellow just like butter from cows cream and it was very good. The people were good and healthy at that time. There were lots of deer, moose, elk, prairie chickens, ducks, geese, partridge, and bear in the Pembina Mountains in 1866. Mr. Lafromboise was working for Charlie Bottineau in 1870. The Halfbreeds in the eastern part of Dakota Territory and the Halfbreeds of White Horse Plains west of Winnipeg Manitoba would meet out west of the Turtle Mountains and go hunting buffalo together about 1868. They would go west of the Turltle Mountains about 50 miles to hunt. There used to be a ridge out there thta ran north and south, the Eastern indians Blackfoot, Assiniboins, Crows, Flatheads, Rees and Crees, the western indians were Sioux, Yanktons, and Chitos (?). They were hostile towards the eastern Indians, and there would be lots of fighting out there on the plains. Mr. LaFromboise says that he talked Cree until he was 12 years old.
He would take the tongue of the buffalo and hang it up to dry and when it was good and dry it would shrivil up to about one fifth of its original size. Then when they wanted to cook it they would put it in a pan of water and boil and it would swell up to its original size. It would make very good eating.
When they were out on the prairie where they could not find fuel to cook with , they would gather buffalo heads and fill them with buffalo tallow, and get three sticks and tie them together and hang the pots on them to cook their meals. They would gather buffalo chips also to make fires. He worked for Chas. Bottineau until 1882, then he went up west of Olga Dakota Territory to work until 1887, then he came back to Neche and worked for James Tongton east of Neche, he worked for Tongton for 5 months, then he came back to Neche and has been here ever since working at different jobs.
The worst wind storm he ever saw was in 1908 a lot of buildings were blown down but no one was hurt.
When he started back after the buffalo hunt he would send three scouts ahead to see that there were no Sioux Indians laying in wait to kill us and take our game. The name of the scouts were Charlie Francis, Geroux Magalis and a scout named Malitois. Gerald Magalis was an uncle of Charlie Grant and man that operated a store in Walhalla Dakota Territory in 1856 to 1863. Then he sold out and went farming in what is now called Hyde Park about 18 miles east of Walhalla. He farmed until 1869 than moved back north of Walhalla on the international boundry.
Mrs. Frizon Grant was the first women at Walhalla Dakota Territory, that was in 1845. She lived at Walhalla for a good many years, and when she moved down east of Walhalla about 16 miles along the international boundry there they built a large log house and all the people that came from down east in Canada or from the old countries stayed there first whele they looked over the land to be filled in. Mrs. Grant lived at this place which was called the Grant House till 1905 when she died and was buried in the Catholic Cemetery in the village of Neche.
In the month of June 1872 the grasshoppers came in from the south, they came in such swarms that they would darken the sun and when they let on the ground they would eat everything and leave the ground like it had been plowed. This was near Neche, Dakota Territory.
The worst epidemic of small pox was in June 1884. Lots of people died of it between Walhalla and Pembina Dakota Territory. Four of Mr. Gangrees family died of small pox in June 1884. In the year of 1862 the buffalo all went across the Missouri River. It had all dried out on the east side of the river. The halfbreeds and Indians had a hard time getting food in 1862 after the buffalo had crossed the river. When the Halfbreeds and Indians went out for the hunt they just took enough food to last them till they got to the hunting grounds, and when they got there in 1862 and found all the buffalo gone they started back east. They had 100 Red River Carts with oxen and ponys. They had to kill the oxen coming back and some of the poney's for food. They also found that the lakes had gone dry since they were there in 1862 so they suffered alot from thirst. They then started for Devils Lake; they knew that there was water there.
A Catholic Priest by the name of Father Jennin? was with the halfbreeds and before they got to Devils Lake they stopped to have lunch, they had no water so they cooked there meat at little fires that they made by hanging a piece of meat on a stick and letting it cook. When the halfbreeds told Father Jennin? that they had no water he told them to go to a little lake and that they could get water there, but several of the halfbreeds had already been over to the lake and it was all dried up, and they told Father Jennin. Then Father Jennin had them recite the rosary. When they were through he told them to get their kettles together and go back again and they did and when the got to the lake again water was coming up through cracks in the bottom of the lake and they got all the water they needed. When they arrived back with the water from the lake, Father Jennin told them to pack all the goods and move over to the lake and make camp. When they got over to the lake Father Jennin had them recite the rosary and celebrated Mass. Then he named the lake St. Mary's Lake.
Mr. LaFromboise tells of the Indian Massacre at Walhalla Dakota Territory in 1874. The Sioux Indians would come down from the west and fight with the Chippewas. He remembers when a number of the Sioux were in a log house waiting for the Chippewa to come. The house was located right where the Great Northern Depot is now. A Scotch Halfbreed named Wilkie was chief of the halfbreeds in 1864, and when the fight started between the Sioux and the Chippewas, Chief Wilkie got all his people together and got away. It started when a Chippewa Indian named Mule got intoxicated with liquer at a place called Gangrees Trading Post about 1 mile east of Walhalla. Mule got hold of a Government Revolver and went back into town and when he got to the log building he went up to the door and shot a Sioux Indian and that started the other Chippewa's firing into the house. The Sioux had single shot guns and bow and arrows. The Sioux killed a lot of Chippewa's with bow and arrows.
Mr. LaFromboise says that a man named Norman W. Kittson established a trading post in Walhalla Dak. Territory in 1847. A man by the name of Charlie Bottineau bought out Mr. Kittson in 1865. He says that his father sent him to Charlie Bottineau's store to get something and the door that led into the store was close to a stairway, and just as he got in the door there was a fight upstairs, and a 10lb can of black powder fell down and struck him in the head knocking him unconsious. He still has the scar on his head.
Mr. LaFromboise says the men rominent in making Walhalla are Father Belcourt, John Meger?, Joseph Rolette, William Moorhead, and Charlie Bottineau. William Moorhead was the first whiteman that he remembers at Walhalla Dak. Territrory. Mr. Moorhead and Jim McIntosh another white man came about the same time, this was about 1863. Jim McIntosh was later killed by Indians while he was carrying mail from Devils Lake South west to another post. A lady named Mrs. Reed was one of the first white women in Walhalla.
This story was told to Mr. LaFromboise by his father Louis LaFromboise. It is about an orphan Half Breed by the name of Joe LaFoyee. This orphan Halfbreed boy Joe LaFoyee went on the buffalo hunt from Walhalla Dakota Territory in 1853 he being about 20 years old at the time. He and two other Half Breed men, Mr. LaFromboise does not remember their names, took 3 tobaggans with 3 dogs to a tobaggan with them on the hunt. Joe LaFoyee and his two partners came across a herd of buffalos about 60 miles west of Walhalla Dak. Territory. Joe's two partners shot a buffalo and Joe's dogs ran after the herd and threw Joe LaFoyee off his tobaggon. There was a snow storm starting and Joe could not find his dogs. So he went back to where his two partners had shot the buffalo . When he got to where they were they were just loading the buffalo on there tobaggans. Joe told them that he had lost his dogs. He told them that he was going to look for them. His two partners told him that they would wait till noon for him, it being about 7 O'Clock in the morning then. His two partners waited until 4 O'Clock in the afternoon and a bad snow storm started and Joe's partners were sure Joe had got lost. Joe LaFoyee had got lost and he walked north into Canada about 60 miles. He froze his feet. He was lost for 11 days. At night he would make a bed of bushes and in the day time he would keep on walking. On the 11th day he reached a woods on the Canadian side of the boarder and sat down on a log to rest. Just as he sat down he heard a shot, and he looked around and saw an elk coming towards him. When the elk got just a few yds. in front of him, it dropped dead. Pretty soon an Indian came along to where the elk had dropped. The indian took off his coat and started to skin the elk. Joe LaFoyee tryed to holler at the Indian, but he was too weak to holler loud, so he tried to get up and he could not get up. The Indian look around and saw him, and Joe waved at him to come over where he was. The Indian picked up his gun and went over to where Joe LaFoyee was sitting. When the Indian saw that Joe's feet were frozen and Joe half starved, the Indian told Joe he would go and get his dogs and tobaggan. The Indian lived about 1/2 mile from where he was sitting. The Indian got his dogs and tobaggan and some blankets and loaded Joe LaFoyee on the tobaggan. The Indian brought along a piece of bear's fat and told Joe to suck it , not too swallow it. When the Indian got Joe to the Indian's shack, he had his squaw make him some stew from buffalo meat and gave Joe the stew. He kept Joe at his place for 24 hours, then he loaded Joe on the tobaggan and brought him to Walhalla Dak. Territory. It took the Indian 3 days to make the trip of about 120 miles. They arrived at Walhalla Dakota Territory at 11 O'Clock at night . The Indian took Joe LaFoyee to Old Man Manarettes? place; this was he man that Joe stayed with before he went on the buffalo hunt. Mr. Morinette sent out word that Joe had arrived home alive. The people thought that Joe had died. They then called for an old maid by the name of Miss Grumbo, she was a kind of doctor among the halfbreeds and Indians at Walhalla Dakota Territory. Miss Grumbo had Joe moved over to her place. She took off all his toes on both feet. It took about 2 months to cure Joe LaFoyee. About 1 year later Joe LaFoyee married Miss. Grumbo. That was in 1854. Joe LaFoyee and his wife went to Manitoba in 1865.
TANNING HIDES
Mr. LaFromboise say the way he tanned hides he would take four poles out them together like they put curtains stretchers together today. Then he would take the green hide and put a hole in each corner of the hide and tie a rope in each corner and draw the hide tight to each corner of the frame. Then he had a wooden handle about 12 inches long with a cord on the other end that slipped over the arm. And at the end of this handle he had a sharp blade of steel about 2 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches. With this he would scrape all the hair off the hide. Then he would use a blade of steel about 3 in. long with teeth in the blade something like a meat saw. Some times he used bone for a scraper when he had no steel blades. He would put teeth in the bone like a meat saw. After all this hair was scrapped off and all the meat scraped off he would keep on scraping to make the hide thin. He would have to scrape more off the neck of the hide to make it the same thickness as the rest of the hide. After the hide was scraped as this as he wanted it . He would rub buffalo tallow in to the hide until it went right into the hide. After that he would take the hide and soak it in a tub of water for 24 hours. After that he would take the hide and nail or tie one end to a tree and fasten the other end to a pole and twist it around until all the water was out of it . Then he would take a hoop of iron and fasten it to a tree. This hoop had fine teeth in it and he would keep on drawing the hide back and forwards until the hide was dry. Then he would take the hide and sew it up with sinew and make a kind of wigwam out of it and build a smudge inside of the wigwam to smoke it. He would watch it closely that the smudge did not blaze. After it was smoked it would be soft a pliable. The color of the hide then would be a light brown. The hide was then ready to be made into moccasins, coats, pants an mittens. Mr. LaFromboise says that the reason that he smoked the hide was that when it was made into clothes and got wet it would dry out and be soft, but if the hide were not smoked and made into clothes and got wet it would get hard.