|
It's time for a good old-fashioned North Dakota blizzard
story, the story of father Joseph Goiffon and his unfortunate adventures
in the Red River Valley in 1860.
Father Goiffon was born in France in 1824 and ordained a priest there
in 1852. He arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1857 and the next year
was sent out to assist Father Belcourt at St. Joseph (Walhalla today)
and Pembina in what is now northeastern North Dakota. There he ministered
to the French, Indian, and Métis residents.
The fall of 1860 Goiffon came back from the autumn buffalo hunt on the
plains with the Métis and found himself summoned to St. Paul on
church business. He traveled to St. Paul accompanied by two Métis
men, Paul and Charles Morneau. After about ten days there, the Morneaus
were ready to head home. They wanted to join a larger traveling party
from St. Boniface, Fort Garry (now Winnipeg), Manitoba. Father Goiffon,
however, protested that it was Sunday.
Thus Goiffon and the Morneaus started a day later, the priest on a new
horse he had bought in St. Paul. They made poor progress across Minnesota,
because of broken wheels and axles on their Red River carts. When they
got to Georgetown, just before crossing the Red River, Father Goiffon
rode ahead of the carts to catch up with the men in the St. Boniface party.
Father Goiffon found the St. Boniface men at the crossing of the Big Salt
River, passed them, and pushed on toward Pembina. It started to rain,
and so, uncertain of the best route, the priest stopped to await the party
at what he called the Little Salt River, what we now know as Park River.
This was where he got into trouble. It was early November. The weather
had been fair, but the priest awoke alongside Park River lying in 6 inches
of snow.
I have to say, Father Goiffon showed some pretty poor judgment. He left
the timber along the river and camped on the prairie in a blizzard. He
crawled under his buffalo robe and went to sleep. His horse died. When
the weather broke, and he tried to get up, he found his feet were frozen.
Travelers from Pembina found Father Goiffon just in time to save his life.
They brought him to the home of Joseph Rolette in Pembina, where he was
fed and thawed out.
The bishop then sent a sledge from St. Boniface to fetch him there. There
were nuns to care for him at St. Boniface, and doctors, too, who concluded
his life could be saved only by amputating his rotting feet. They took
off his right leg and planned to amputate most of his left foot later.
Before they could perform the second surgery, other emergencies intervened.
Some nuns who were heating buffalo tallow to make candles set fire to
the bishop's residence. The residence, and St. Boniface cathedral, both
went up in flames. Priests rescued Father Goiffon from the burning house.
Now here comes the legendary part of the story. By the night of the fire,
the doctors had given the stricken priest up for dead. He was bleeding
from a broken artery in the stump of his right leg. Right after the fire,
however, the bleeding stopped. People said it was because Father Goiffon
got so cold when he was carried out that the blood finally clotted.
The doctors took off most of his other foot, but Father Goiffon remained
an active priest—a few more months at St. Joseph, and then a long
life, to 1910, serving parishes in Minnesota.
In 1908 the bishop at St. Boniface would dedicate a new and grander cathedral.
He invited the aged father Goiffon to the dedication, and also asked him
to write down the story of his survival. That’s how we know the story
today.
This text and audio may not be copied without securing
prior permission from Plains Folk.
|
