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Drawing by Kathleen Angelski showing construction of the Giscome Portage wagon road in 1871.2001
Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage on the Fraser River, North of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
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Construction of the Corduroy RoadThe government was petitioned for improvements to the portage in 1871 as a result of the increased traffic from the Omineca gold rush. Nearly 400 people from Quesnel signed a petition addressed to the Governor of B.C. and the Legislative Council. The petition pleaded for improved access given the potential abundance of resources in the Peace River region. The petitioners felt the poor trail conditions were curtailing private exploration and mining.
In response to the petition, John Trutch, was instructed to make a reconnaissance of the Giscome Portage and to direct construction of a wagon road over the same. When complete, the new wagon road boasted 2000 feet of corduroy road and thirty-seven culverts. A corduroy road was a common method of building a road over a wetland or wet areas in the late 19th century and very early 20th century in northern British Columbia. The road was constructed of logs, which were tied together with pickets and stringers.
Drawing of constructing a Corduroy Road
Kathleen Angelski who worked for the Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage Heritage Society as an interpreter in 2001 composed a line drawing, which depicts the construction of the corduroy road over the Giscome Portage in 1871. The picture displays how the construction crew cut down conifers on either side of the portage, laid them down and butt them up together to form a corduroy road. The two horses pictured would be used to skid the logs into place. The cart pictured would have been used to haul equipment and men, in and out of the portage.
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Map showing trails and waterways ca 1870 to 19151890
Cariboo and the Fraser-Fort George Region, British Columbia, Canada
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Map showing the historical trails which were used during the period 1870-1920.18
This map shows the Giscome Portage in 1915. Huble Homestead is at the south end1915
Fraser-Fort George Region, Prince George Area British Columbia, Canada
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The original business card for Seebach and Huble General Merchants1915
Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage on the Fraser River, North of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
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Seebach and Huble General MerchantsThis is the original business card that Seebach and Huble were distributing throughout the Northwest in 1915. "Freight stored and Delivered at the head waters of Peace River"
The business "Seebach and Huble General Merchants" was established in 1904. In 2004 we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of this event and the remarkable persons that formed this successful business.
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Huble and Ed Seebach advertised their freighting and trading business in the Fort George Herald1912
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A Thriving BusinessAl Huble and Ed Seebach advertised their freighting and trading business many times in the Fort George newspapers, including the August 17th, 1912 edition of the Fort George Herald. The viewer can see here that the pair of businessmen carried a large stock of general merchandise and freighted all the way from Fort George to the Peace River area. Al and Ed were very busy with their thriving little business and advertising was just as popular in the early 20th century as it is today.
Some of the food and merchandise that the partners stocked in the Giscome Portage Trading Post included; canning jars, pots and pans, dishes, cutlery, blankets, matches, pencils, writing paper, pens, can openers, stove polish, cheese cloth, playing cards, candles, lard, salt, pepper, rice, flour, sugar (white and brown), oats, molasses, spices, tea, coffee, vinegar, jam, plum pudding, beans, canned tomatoes, candies, cookies, ginger snaps, cream soda, Edam cheese, La Crosse chocolates, and other food, tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, Beecham's pills, Sloan's lineament, Enos, fruit salts, Epsom salt, headache wafers, Parker's painkiller, planting seeds, socks, wool pants, ammunition, traps, leather for harnesses, tools, buckets, washboards, wash tubs, brooms, knives, rope, pack boards, overshoes, boots, snow shoes, canoes, kerosene, lamps, material, coveralls, other clothes, jackets, canoes and boats.
A few of the companies that Al dealt with were, Montgomery Ward Department Store, Jones Brothers & Co., Oliver Typewriter, Ford Motor Company, Graham & Anderson, Johnson Brothers, Wolf & Hine, Moodie Biscuit & Candy Co. Ltd., Hanes and Drake, J.W. Pecks, Gault Bothers, Manday Biscuit & Candy, Marshall Wells and the Great West Saddlery, and the Hudson's Bay Company.
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This 1911 photograph was taken at the Giscome Portage directly beside the Fraser River1912
Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage on the Fraser River, North of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
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Freighting goods using Red River cartsThis picture was taken at the Giscome Portage directly beside the Fraser River in the year 1911. There are four men that can be seen in the picture. One is bent over and fixing the front end of the first cart and three others are leaning against the rear cart. It is believed that the front end man is Ed Seebach and the taller gentleman who is standing straight at the rear cart is Al Huble.
Al Huble and Ed Seebach had two teams of horses for their freighting business, both of which are pictured here. The front team is a gray team and the rear team, closer to the river, is a smaller dark team. The carts shown are loaded down with freight that will soon be hauled over the portage and will likely end up in the Peace River area.
Al and Ed often freighted for the Hudson's Bay Company, and this load may likely be theirs. The warehouse can be seen to the right in this picture. The warehouse was used to store people's freight, which would come off of the sternwheelers that freighted up and down the Fraser River (see section on Sternwheelers in Spring). The freight which is strewn all over the ground beside the river was just off loaded from a sternwheeler and will soon be either stored in the warehouse or taken to Al and Ed's trading post, just up the hill from the warehouse site.
The Red River Cart
Sam Huble recalled his dad building Red River carts, because the trail (Giscome Portage) was not wide enough for a team of two horses. However, in one photo two horses are hitched to each cart.
The Red River cart goes back to 1801, when Alex Henry, a fur trader for the North-West Company, stopped at Pembina. While there, he taught people to make these carts, after the fashion of the ones used in Quebec. There are accounts of colonists hiring carts to transport themselves and their belongings when leaving Red River in 1823 to settle in Missouri.
When constructing a Red River Cart, no iron was used. The frame was held together with wooden pegs and the tires were bound with strips of shagannappi, which is raw fresh skin of buffalo or cattle. As the skin dried, it shrank and held the tires tightly, forming a hard and durable rim. These carts carried the meat of the slain buffalo for the Metis hunting parties and were also employed for transporting freight. Occasionally, the carts were fitted with a round-topped hood of hide or canvas.
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A modern-day recreation of a typical fall day at the Giscome Portage, circa 1915August, 2003
Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage on the Fraser River, North of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
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Hauling Freight for many clientsIn this reconstruction the freight includes a dugout canoe. Dugout canoes were use frequently by both First Nations and the newcomers to the area. Al Huble Jr. remembers having his own dugout when he was at the Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage. Among the many clients to whom Seebach and Huble offered a freighting service, the First Nations were included.
from Al Huble's diary September 4, 1915:
"Went over to Ed's place and took Ingins [sic] freight across portage. Fine day."
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First Nations people traveling by dugout canoe on the Parsnip River in the late 1890s.1890
Parsnip River, British Columbia, Canada
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