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Life at the McDougall's... After their first winter in the buffalo skin tipi they built a log cabin, and then a large mission house. The large house consisted of eight rooms, a living-room, dining-room, bedroom and kitchen on the ground floor and then four bedrooms upstairs. (Kells 9) Some of the wood that they cut down and then left to dry was burnt by the Blackfoot before they could use it, but eventually the buildings were finished. They had glass windows - a true novelty which the native people loved to look through. (Jordon 26) A Norwegian carpenter who came with the McDougalls from another mission built the furniture by hand. (Kells 9) Food was often scarce and always simple. A meal might consist of plain meat with no bread or vegetables, or on another day might be instead a bowl full of turnips or wild duck eggs. Tea would be served but without milk or sugar. Flour was a luxury to be used sparingly, although the mission site soon began to grow and mill its own barley flour. Chickens were purchased from the Father Lacombe mission in St. Albert. At first the Hudson's Bay Company would haul food for the missionaries, but soon the policy changed. Either George or John McDougall would have to travel for four months to Ft. Gerry and back. Besides that, both George and John would often be gone hunting, and visiting other missions. And the women would be left alone.
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