Last week, Caribou Joe arrives at the community Christmas party, intoxicated, and proceeds to ride his horse through the front door of the Tete Jaune hall.
Joe somehow survived the Christmas party. The following day he was amazed to find one full bottle of whiskey left in his saddlebag. The Wall brothers were kind enough to offer a vacant bunk-bed and together the three young men celebrated the rest of the festive season by calling on the local residents around the 'Cache' to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and all the best for 1913.
On one of their stops Joe met an old fellow named Ben Sanders. Ben, or 'Sandy' as he preferred to be called, lived near Mile 53 town-site on the upper hillside beside Shelter Creek.
Sandy had a trap-line that followed the creek up behind Mica Mountain. Joe and the Wall brothers had invited old Sandy to the New Year's Eve gathering at the Dance Hall and the trapper had promised to show.
On New Year's Eve, when John and Bill Wall and Caribou Joe entered the hall, they spotted Sandy sitting by himself on one of the long wooden plank-seats that had been set up in the room. He looked up from his glass of beer as the boys approached
Well, Lads," said Sandy. "It's almost midnight. Another year gone by. Here, come and pull up a bench and chew the rag with ol' Sandy!"
They all sat down and began to reminisce about the changes that had taken place in the surrounding area in just one year. Yes, indeed, 1912 and the building of the Grand Trunk Pacific had brought many dramatic changes to Tte Jaune Cache. From a community that consisted of the "Trappers Exchange", the "Buster Stopping House", abandoned survey camps and the old Indian Village, Tte Jaune had become the head of navigation on the Upper Fraser, connecting Edmonton, Alberta, with Fort George (Prince George), British Columbia. When the end of steel on the Grand Trunk Pacific mainline reached "The Cache" that year, the Fraser River came alive and so did the town.
In the next episode... There was lots of action at old Tte Jaune Cache back in 1912. We'll look back in, 1912 - another year gone by, as the New Year's Eve party continues.
