In the past, the side boundaries of hunting grounds have been the cause
of many family feuds, and the outer boundaries have furnished the
occasion for many tribal wars. The past and the present headquarters
camping grounds of the Strong Woods Indians--as the inhabitants of the
Great Northern Forest are generally called--lie about one hundred and
fifty miles apart.

The natural overland highways throughout the country, especially those
intersecting the watercourses and now used as the roadbeds for our
great transcontinental railways, were not originally discovered by man
at all. The credit is due to the big game of the wilderness; for the
animals were not only the first to find them, but also the first to use
them. The Indian simply followed the animals, and the trader followed
the Indian, and the official "explorer" followed the trader, and the
engineer followed the "explorer," and the railroad contractor followed
the engineer. It was the buffalo, the deer, the bear, and the wolf who
were our original transcontinental path-finders, or rather pathmakers.
Then, too, the praise bestowed upon the pioneer fur traders for the
excellent judgment shown in choosing the sites upon which trading posts
have been established throughout Canada, has not been deserved; the
credit is really due to the Indians. The fur traders erected their
posts or forts upon the tribal camping grounds simply because they
found such spots to be the general meeting places of the Indians, and
not only situated on the principal highways of the wilderness but
accessible from all points of the surrounding country, and, moreover,
the very centres of excellent fish and game regions. Thus in Canada
many of the ancient tribal camping grounds are now known by the names
of trading posts, of progressive frontier towns, or of important cities.

Now, as of old, the forest Indians after their winter's hunt return in