Mattie Mitchell (22 page)

DURING THE COURSE OF MY RESEARCH
to write what I soon
discovered to be the incredible story of Mattie Mitchell, I read
extensively from many works written by the early European
explorers. Many of them recorded their investigations in great
detail. Some of them were great authors and wrote with a
wonderful flowing hand.

Considering the attention they paid to some details, the
omissions I found in many of their writings bewildered me.

Leaving the port of St. John's and usually travelling at
government expense, they always named the ship they sailed on,
its captain, and sometimes even some of the crew members. After
arriving at one of the major outports like Twillingate, for example,
they would record the schooner names and their skippers who
took them farther into the bays.

Often they required smaller vessels to take them to the mouths
of rivers or deeper into the dangerous bays as needed. And again,
they almost always named the men who carried them forth. But,
when taken by the Mi'kmaq Indians up the unknown rivers and
deep into the mysterious wilderness beyond the white man's
frontier, they simply referred to them as their “Micmac Indians”
or “my native guide” or “my Indian.” The Mi'kmaq guides, who
led them to shorelines that few white men knew about, remained
nameless.

There are, of course, a few pleasant exceptions, such as
James Howley and Alexander Murray, who were undoubtedly
Newfoundland's greatest non-Indian explorers. I acknowledge,
as well, Hugh Cole for his vivid, daily accounts of the 400-mile-long reindeer trek. To these men I give full credit.

Throughout my research I found that the contributions made by
the Mi'kmaq people to the exploration of insular Newfoundland
are exemplary. They were called upon extensively as guides. And
by far the one who was requested most frequently was Mattie
Mitchell.

In 1891 he played a major role in leading the Reid surveyors
to the right areas to allow access for the first Newfoundland
railway. He guided them along the west coast as well as much of
the central part of the route.

Mattie led the first mapping expedition of the Northern
Peninsula, the first major geological survey of practically all of
central and western Newfoundland.

He guided European explorers through the hidden valleys and
over the top of the Annieopsquotch Mountains, which admirably
lives up to its name in the Mi'kmaq language, meaning “Terrible
Rocks.”

It should also be noted that Mattie took his son Lawrence
with him on many of his excursions. The American sportsman-clergyman Worcester recorded fourteen-year-old Lawrence with
his father on at least two occasions. In 1904 the A. N. D. Company
hired Mattie and Lawrence to find timber and other resources,
however, Lawrence is not recorded as part of the group that
discovered the Buchans ore body in 1905.

Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe,
born just outside of Dublin, Ireland, would have no other guide
than Mattie Mitchell. Harmsworth especially loved fly fishing
for Atlantic salmon. He was a newspaper publishing magnate in
England, who added the pulp and paper mill in Grand Falls to
his list of assets in 1905. In that same year he was added to the
British peerage as Baron Northcliffe.

Mattie Mitchell was also recognized by the British royalty.
After guiding members of the royal family on a very successful
hunting and fishing expedition, he was verbally given the sole
rights to hunt and fish the King George IV Lake area in central
Newfoundland forever. Although Mattie never exercised this
right, it would have been interesting to see what would have
happened if that royal “decree” had been put in writing.

There is another, much more serious event recorded in the
private memoirs of Marie Sparkes. It involves Mattie's discovery
of the ore body on Sandy River. She records that Mattie was
receiving a guiding fee of $18 per month at the time. The barrel
of flour he received as a bonus, valued in 1905 at $2.50, has been
universally scoffed at. It has also been considered by others as
fair. After all, Mattie was in the company's employ, for which
he was getting paid. When he was asked what he would like for
his discovery, Mattie promptly said, “A barrel of flour fer me
family's winter bread.”

But Marie has carefully recorded a much more sinister
account.

A. N. D. Company officials came to her grandfather's door
while he was away from home for an extended period. The
officials wanted a paper signed and, in the absence of Mattie
Mitchell, obtained a signature from a visiting relative of the man.
The relative of Mattie didn't have a chance—or was probably
unable—to read the document that he signed. Sadly, the family
have not been able to find any evidence of such a document. It
was the belief of Marie Sparkes that it would prove little more
than the signed agreement of the Mitchell family to forgo forever
any benefits from their grandfather's historic find.

Elwood Worcester, the American sportsman who came to
Newfoundland to experience caribou and black bear hunting,
as well as salmon and trout fishing unequalled anywhere, spent
many years on the island with Mattie Mitchell. The man kept
coming back for more than the hunting and the fishing. He came
for the experience of living in a wilderness with a man who, when
he walked away from the confines of the smallest of habitations,
was truly a part of the natural whole. Worcester recorded and
left behind a detailed description of his time spent with Mattie
Mitchell. I acknowledge his contribution to my effort.

I have gathered much of the information in this book from
the handwritten lines of a remarkable woman, Marie Mitchell
Sparkes. After my second reading, I sensed between the fluid lines
of her work a hidden personal yearning to have her grandfather's
life known. Hers was a quiet voice that hoped to be heard, and
her steadfast resolve was quieted only by her death, which came
far too soon.

Within the pages of Marie's beautifully written work I found
a woman with a desperate need to have her history revealed. I
also witnessed the early days of a child whose history was cruelly
denied. Along Mattie Mitchell's “paths to pages” I have felt the
burning need in Marie Sparkes to shout her ancestry.

I have merely whispered it.

There is within me a great fear that I have failed, after reading
the personal feelings of a woman who clearly longed for the
exploits of her grandfather to be heard by everyone.

Marie's dedication to making her remarkable ancestry known
has thankfully been handed down to another equally enthusiastic
advocate of the Mi'kmaq culture. To her son, Brian Sparkes, I
am forever grateful. Brian entrusted to me—which I reluctantly
accepted—a satchel filled with rare photos, memorabilia, and
documents written by his mother, Marie, about Mattie Mitchell.
Until then, no one outside of their immediate family had seen
them.

Like his mother, Brian never met Mattie Mitchell. Brian grew
up in an entirely different era than did his great-grandfather, and
even a different one than his mother. However, their Mi'kmaq
ancestry has finally been accepted.

It has been a slow road.

In 1998, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador
recognized Mattie Mitchell's contribution to the growth and
prosperity of the province by opening the Mattie Mitchell
Prospectors Resource Room, under the Department of Natural
Resources. The facility is located in the department's Geological
Survey on Elizabeth Avenue, St. John's. Its mission statement on
the provincial government's website says it “is designed to support
prospectors by providing them with mentoring, technical support,
and promotional assistance, thereby assisting in the creation of
wealth and jobs through sustainable mineral development.”

In 2001, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada
recognized Mattie Mitchell as a person of national historic
significance. A renowned Mi'kmaq hunter, guide, and prospector,
Mattie Mitchell contributed to the exploration and mapping
of the Northern Peninsula, and to the development of the new
Newfoundland economy and mining of the twentieth century.

In 2005, a plaque in Mattie Mitchell's honour was placed
at the Deer Arm site on the main highway within Gros Morne
National Park.

I would like to thank the following people for their respective
contributions to the creation of this book: Brian Sparkes; Ray
Nielson; Valda Bowe-McGuire; Gerald C. Squires; Sean
Rumboldt; David McDonald; Tony Huxter; Faron Knott; Allan
Keats; and Peter Oram.

To my wonderful friend and wife, Rose: you are my
confidence.

I respectfully acknowledge Garry Cranford for his idea of
having me write about Mattie Mitchell. His dedication to the
constant recording of Newfoundland and Labrador history is to
be commended. I hope I have exceeded his expectation.

To Margo Cranford, whom, with my very first book, stood by
my side and assured me I was deserving, and whom has kept my
guard through many public appearances, the sincerest of thank
yous.

I also recognize the effort made by my editor, Jerry Cranford,
in the production of this book. For a non-outdoors city boy to edit
the life of Newfoundland's greatest frontiersman could not have
been easy for him. Thanks, Jerry.

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