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|   Cora TaylorWhy did you decide to write about the waning years of the buffalo hunt? I have always been fascinated by the life of the prairie Métis during the era of the buffalo hunt. It always seemed to be a wild, free life and the Métis were very independent, an interesting mix of the two cultures they drew from but very different from each of them. The other thing that intrigued me about this period was that the decline of the buffalo and the people whose economy depended on it has many parallels to modern life. For example, there was a town in Alberta in the early to mid-1800's called Tail Creek Town which was occupied only during the seasons of the hunt. At that time it would swell to a population of 5,000 as Métis from Alberta and Saskatchewan came to join the hunt. This was the equivalent of a modern "company town." When the bison dwindled the town died because the employment and financial security provided by the hunt was gone. Like the loss of cod in Newfoundland, the loss of the buffalo created a disruption in people's lives beyond just a job. People moved and circumstances were often desperate. Another element of the buffalo hunt that captures my imagination was the incredible organization of it. A buffalo hunt was a kind of army, with lieutenants and captains in command and strict rules about the conduct of the hunt. This kind of training helped bring about recognition of buffalo hunter Gabriel Dumont as a brilliant military strategist which he proved in his role in the Riel Rebellion of 1885. What kind of research did you do to find out about the world Angelique lived in? Of course my own background growing up on the prairie with its wonderful space and glorious sky, its trees and flowers, flavoured Angelique's world view. The speech patterns of the Métis in the book also come from my personal experience living in the Duck Lake area of Saskatchewan with Métis friends and relatives during the l940's and 50's. For historical details I studied buffalo hunts described in the books Gabriel Dumont by George Woodcock, Lord of the Plains by Alfred Silver, Strange Empire by Joseph Kinsey Howard and Buffalo, a collection of articles published by the University of Alberta. In addition, I looked at technical information on buffalo hunts and was most fortunate to uncover a short memoir of ten-year-old Victoria Callihoo's buffalo hunt which was recorded before she died in 1945 in her nineties. The native treatments described in the novel came from research provided by a friend of mine who is a medical anthropologist. I also gathered spruce gum and chewed it as part of my first-hand field studies! What do you think was most different about life in that time? People were so incredibly self-reliant and totally without self-pity. Unlike too many modern counterparts they did their best and didn't complain. I admire that very much. Do you think that Angelique would be a very different person if she were alive today? Not terribly, though perhaps it might be more difficult for her to maintain her love of nature and see the beauty around her if she were stuck in a city. Still, I think she would be the same lively, loving, impulsive person and at least she would have a broader role as a girl than she did in 1860. Would you want to go back and live in that time yourself? I would love to visit but I'm not sure I'd want to have to do all the hard work the women of that era did! |
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