182 TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF

CHIPPEWAS AT BALSAM LAKE.
CRANE, CHIEF.

The Indians of Balsam Lake, numbering ninety,
were settled within the Township of Bexley, on a point.
of lanid jutting out into Lake Balsam, which is the most
- Northerly of the chain of Lakes, running Northwest
across the back townships of the district of New Castle.
The reserve which was granted to them by the Eng-
lish government, comprised twelve hundred and six
acres. Of these, two hundred were cultivated. 'The
village was small ; composed of about a dozen houses,
with out-buildings and a commodious school-house, in
which divine service was performed by a resident Meth-
odist Missionary.

In 1843 these Indians became dissatisfied with the
climate, and with the quality of the land at Balsam
Lake, and purchased six hundred acres on the banks of
Lake Scugog, and were making preparations to remove
from their old settlement to their new locality. 'This vol- -
unteer movement of theirs evinced how rapid an improve-
ment was going on in their minds; and showed that
the spirit of enterprise existed among them, inasmuch
as it was made on account of the superiority of the land
near Lake Scugog for agricultural purposes.