11C this am. Showers off and on yesterday. Today is voting day, I hope everyone realizes that a vote for either trhe Green party or the BC Conservatives is a vote for the NDP and all the economic disaster they will bring (after a brief honeymoon). The Liberals haven't done so bad after having to survive the Campbell era and all those that fled the party - did you ever think that maybe they might have been pushed? They were definitely part of the old regime.

From Moir’s we went direct south into the Tiger Hills, over the Boyne river and on past where John Hall later took up land, and then along through a rough country covered with a growth of scrub and scattered timber, and had difficulty in following a poorly marked trail.  It was now becoming dark and we lost the trail completely, but we managed to keep on a southerly direction until we came to a hay stack on the edge of a marsh, and decided to camp for the night.  The horses were well blanketed and made as comfortable as possible.  Hay was pulled from the stack to feed them and also to provide a bed for ourselves.  We made a big camp fire and had something to eat and became well warmed up and then turned in for the night.  A light snow was falling so we had to keep our faces covered.

We all had a fine nights sleep and awoke early in the morning and found a fine blanket of snow over us.

We had breakfast and all ready to proceed before daylight and then recognized land marks and soon found the trail and in a short time came to our old camp ground on the Cypress River near Charlie Holland’s place.  At noon time we stopped for lunch a few miles north of St. Leon.

When we reached St. Leon I intended purchasing oats for our team which I was informed could be obtained at the store.

The trail was about 50 feet from the store and as I walked up the path leading to it, I noticed a young lady at the window looking out at me.  A thermometer was on the wall near the door and I noticed the temperature and shouted to boys on the sleigh, “25 below zero boys”.  Then I opened the door and enquired from the young lady if they had oats for sale.  She looked rather abashed and did not reply, and then on looking into the room I saw that church services were being held and the congregation had turned their heads and were looking at me.   I hurriedly closed the door and made my way back to the sleigh.  I discovered afterwards that the store was in the other end of the building.

We were informed here that we could save many miles by following a trail that led south east, instead of going via the Calf Mountain trail.  So we traveled this trail for several miles and came to Mr. Saunders’ where we put up for the night.

We met a man here who was going to Nelsonville and he joined us in the morning and acted as guide.

Only three buildings could be seen on the way from this trail which was poorly marked and led through a prairie and willow scrub country, until we came near Kilgour’s saw mill, which was located in quite a large forest of oak timber, near the brow of the Pembina mountains.  From here the trail led gradually down a valley to the plain below and then turned south for a few miles into Nelsonville.

The team was put into a stable and we made our way to the land office and entered our land, and then the sleigh was loaded with our goods and all made ready for the return journey.

The people who kept the hotel were very kind and hospitable to us and we spent a very pleasant evening with them.

It was now along about Dec. 15^th and we endeavored to make use of every minuet of daylight during the short days so as to make as many miles as possible.  Each day since we had left home the same weather conditions prevailed, cold and calm with a light snow fall and a dark lowering sky.

We began our homeward journey as daylight came, and we soon found that load made travelling much slower than with the empty sleigh, and when we began to ascend the trail up the valley to the mountain top, it became much slower and it was near noontime when we came to Kilgour’s mill, so we stopped and had lunch.

The road so far had been sheltered by the mountain and the woods to this point and now we began to experience a strong wind from the northwest.  As we proceeded it became stronger.

When we emerged from the woods into the open country we began to encounter a succession of snow drifts.  We could scarcely see any distance with so much driven snow in the air.

We struggled along under these conditions for a time and I began to realize that we could not possibly reach Mr. Saunders’ place before dark with our load.  I judged we had left about five miles to go.  We decided that Watkins and Leadbeater would camp at the sleigh and I would go on and find shelter for the team.