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A Brief History
This stopping place was operated by the Auger family and later the Shepherds.
William Innes established the first bank in the Peace Country. He writes of his first day and night on the trail, November 5th, 1911; “the day before we started, it rained heavily and was very mild…. The rush for land was on in the Peace River country so we dressed and acted the part of land seekers in order to have less worry about carrying cash. On the stage we were allowed to carry our beds and 40 pounds of luggage each. This included our personal effects and banking supplies…. The coins were packed in Longair’s suitcase while I carried the bills on my person; that is, until I got chaffed up carrying them and the gun and cached them in my pack sack on the wagon…. By the first evening we had gone 20 miles and stayed at a French Canadian’s cabin where we had our evening meal and then rolled up in our blankets on the floor for the night. In the morning the muskegs were frozen hard enough to carry a horse.”
In 1912 railway baron John D. McArthur employed four agents to secretly scout out town sites for the Edmonton, Dunvegan & British Columbia Railway. One of the agents was Hugh MacIntyre. MacIntyre kept a hand written diary of his travels into and through the Peace Country. In March 1912 he writes after breakfast in the morning we struck off for the next stopping place - the Frenchman’s, but we had a stop on the road…. While waiting...a fellow walking with his pack on his back and a little .22 in his hand caught up on us - bound for Grande Prairie. The boys came back soon and we got under way once more and made the Frenchman’s in good time for dinner. It was here that the baby chewed up the little mice while the rest of the family looked on and said nothing. Saw this baby and a fat chubby little “it” - it is. Mice must be good for babies. Could not help but think of this episode yesterday when eating dinner - but sat tight and gulped down many varied and mixed thoughts & feelings along with the grub - concerning young mice and the aforesaid grub and at the end of five minutes rose from the table - full as a little ‘red wagon’.
Mary Auger was married to John Auger and they
operated a stopping place on the Edson Trail for a
short time before taking a homestead near Grande Prairie.
John died in 1913 and Mary Auger applied for a
homestead in 1914. When she gained title in 1919 she was
married to a second husband, Mr. Sauroil.
Photograph courtesy the South Peace Archives No. 252.01.02
SITE INFORMATION
Other names: Auger’s (our-jay’s) or the Frenchman’s Stopping Place
Founded: Stopping Place first appears on Mundy Map 1914
Abandoned: Date of abandonment unknown
Ownership:
Access: Public access is permitted
FURTHER READING & BIBLIOGRAPHY
Edson to Grande Prairie Trail, published by the DeBolt & District Pioneer Museum Society, 1982. This is the best source for information on the trail.
Now it can be told - a series of stories of events in the early years of settlement in the Peace River District of Alberta, by A.H. McQuarrie
Diary of Hugh MacIntyre 1912, at the Provincial Archives of Alberta
Mundy Maps, 1914 and 1919 & Mundy Pocket Guide, 1914
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