During the last few days in December all trails for ten thousand square miles around led to Post Fort 0' God.

It was the eve of OOSKE PIPOON--of the New Year--the mid-winter carnival time of the people of the wilderness, when from teepees and cabins far and near come the trappers and their families to sell their furs and celebrate for a few days with others of their kind.

To this New Year gathering men, women, and children look forward through long and weary months.

The trapper's wife has no neighbour.

Her husband's "line" is a little kingdom inviolate, with no other human life within many miles of it; so for the women the OOSKE PIPOON is a time of rejoicing; for the children it is the "big circus," and for the men a reward for the labour and hardship of catching their fur.