Alberta and Great Waterways Railway

Testimony of Germain Labonté (area resident) in a 1981 audio interview: “My parents, Joseph Labonté and Sophronie Labonté (née Gagnon) emigrated from Michigan to Plamondon in March 1910. My seven siblings and I were also part of this journey. We ranged in ages from 18 months to 16 years old.

During the late summer of 1910, the A&GWR had established 6 food caches toward Fort McMurray. The furthest cache we knew about was 10 miles north of la Rivière des Montagnes (known today as House River). We knew this because Oliva St Jean and Ernest Plamondon had been hired to guard the caches.

In late February 1911, for reasons unknown to us, the A&GWR terminated the employment of Oliva and Ernest leaving the food caches unguarded and unprotected. We heard about the Charboneau family salvaging one of the less distant food caches, yielding so many goods that could not all be stored inside the cabin and had to be stored outside in a tent.

That peaked my father’s interest because we were so poor. So, my father got together with Narcisse St Jean (brother of Oliva) to hatch a plan to salvage the two most northerly caches - one at House River (approximately 80 miles) and north of House River (approximately 90 miles). Narcisse had an inside line on the location of these 2 caches because he had accompanied Oliva earlier to help relieve the days of boredom guarding the caches.

So, they left sometime in March 1911, with a team of oxen and a sleigh. In two feet of snow, travel was slow at maybe 2 miles per hour. They finally arrived at the cache at House River to discover it was severely compromised by salvagers and wildlife damage. So, they decided that Narcisse will walk (10 miles) to the furthest cache to confirm its integrity. My father would follow his tracks with the team of oxen and make camp at dark to wait for Narcisse to return.

Sure enough, Narcisse returned in the middle of the night using a candle for light. He reported that the cache was intact and there were way more supplies that one sleigh could handle. So, they decided to return to the cache at House River and that my father will stage there with the team of oxen. There was a small stable there with a supply of oats and hay.

Narcisse would walk to Plamondon, 80 miles in 2 days and return on Day 8 with a second team of oxen and another sleigh. If Narcisse had not returned by Day 8, then my father would proceed on Day 9 to salvage all he could with the one sleigh.

Sure enough, Narcisse arrived on Day 8 with a second team of oxen. They proceeded to the cache with the two teams to salvage all that they could. Merchandise included flour, sugar, dried beans, macaroni, dehydrated fruit and boxes of candles. They also discovered that First Nations from Pelican Portage had discovered the tracks of Narcisse leading to the cache and they had begun to salvage supplies.

I was five years old when my father arrived in the middle of the night. I remember because it created such huge excitement.”

Germain Labonté