----------------------------------------------------------------------
1825. d. m. d. m. h. m. h. m.
Aug.
16 Garry Island 69 29 135 41 1 0 P.M. 10 19 N.E. 6
No ice visible.
1826.
July
9 Point Toker 69 38 132 18 4 25 P.M. 1 45 N.E.b.E. 5
Loose ice covering the sea. Rise of water 20 in.
10 } Bay between } { 5 0 P.M. 0 56 East. 8
} Points Toker } 69 43 131 58 { Heavy pieces of ice.
12 } and Warren } { 6 48 P.M. 1 48 - 5
Little ice visible.
13 Atkinson Island 69 55 130 43 7 0 P.M. 0 32 S.E. 1
Rise and fall 18 inches.
14 Browell Cove 70 00 130 20 7 0 P.M. 1 12 West. 6
Very little rise and fall.
18 Point Sir 70 08 127 45 3 15 A.M. 3 47 Calm. -
P. Maitland
19 Near Cape Bathurst 70 33 127 21 1 30 A.M. 1 28 E.S.E. 6
{ In the mouth of Harrowby Bay, round
(18 & 19) { which the tide appeared to flow.
{ Flood setting from the Eastward.
{ Rise and fall 14-1/2 inches.
20 Point Fitton 70 11 126 14 4 00 A.M. 3 18 N.W. 6
Rise and fall 13 inches.
_TABLE of Times of High Water, &c.--Concluded._
Geographic Times of High Water. Winds.
Position.
Reduced
Names of Places Lat Lon. to full Direction.
Date. of Observations. N. W. Observed & change. Force.
General Remarks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1826. d. m. d. m. h. m. h. m.
July
20 W. Horton River 69 50 125 55 4 15 P.M. 3 15 W.N.W. 9
21 - - - - - 5 0 A.M. 3 49 - 7
27 Cape Lyon 69 46 122 51 {11 50 A.M. 6 33 E.N.E. 8
{ Stream of flood from the
{ Eastward. Rise and fall
30 {Three miles from } { 14 inches.
{Buchanan River } 69 24 120 03 { 5 0 P.M. 8 20 W.N.W. 8
Ice close and heavy, Rise and fall 9 inches.
Aug.
1 Point Wise 69 03 119 00 8 30 P.M. 7 04 West. 4
Compact ice.
3 Stapylton Bay 68 52 116 03 9 0 P.M. 8 22 East. 2
In a bay filled with ice.
4 { Between C. Hope }
{ and C. Bexley } 68 57 115 48 3 15 P.M. 8 25 E.S.E. 4
Ice to seaward.
5 Chantry Island 68 45 114 23 8 30 P.M. 7 22 W.S.W. 3
Loose masses of ice.
6 {Seven miles from }
{C. Krusenstern } 68 32 113 53 9 00 P.M. 7 13 Variable. -
Flood from the S.E. Velocity 3 miles an hour.
FOOTNOTES:
[13] Franklin's First Journey to the Polar Sea, p. 337.
[14] All the distances mentioned in the narrative of the proceedings of
the eastern detachment, are geographical miles.
CAPTAIN FRANKLIN'S NARRATIVE RESUMED.
CHAPTER VI.
Brief Notices of the Second Winter at Bear Lake--Traditions of the
Dog-Ribs--Leave Fort Franklin--Winter Journey to Fort Chipewyan--Remarks
on the progress of improvement in the Fur Countries--Set out in Canoes
on the Voyage Homeward--Join Dr. Richardson at Cumberland House--Mr.
Drummond's Narrative--Arrival in Canada, at New York, and London.
[Sidenote: Thursday, 21st] During our absence on the sea-coast, Mr.
Dease had employed the Canadians in making such repairs about the
buildings as to fit them for another winter's residence, but he had not
been able to complete his plans before the arrival of Dr. Richardson's
party, through whose assistance they were finished shortly after our
return. The inconvenience arising from the unfinished state of the
houses was a trifle, when compared to the disappointment we felt at the
poverty of our store, which contained neither meat nor dried fish, and
the party was living solely on the daily produce of the nets, which, at
this time, was barely sufficient for its support. Notwithstanding the
repeated promises which the Fort hunters and the Dog-Ribs in general had
given us, of exerting themselves to collect provisions during the
summer, we found that they had not supplied more than three deer since
our departure. The only reason they assigned to Mr. Dease, on his
remonstrating with them, was, that they had been withheld from hunting
at any great distance from the Fort, by the fear of meeting the Copper
Indians, who, they fancied, would be lying in wait to attack them. This
excuse, however, had been so often alleged without a cause, that it was
considered mere evasion, and we attributed their negligence to the
indolence and apathy which mark the character of this tribe.
I need not dilate upon the anxieties which we felt at the prospect of
commencing the winter with such a scanty supply of food. We at once
sent off five men, provided with nets and lines, to the fishery in
M'Vicar's Bay, which had been so productive in the preceding year, in
the hope that, besides gaining their own subsistence, they might store
up some fish for us, which could be brought to the Fort when the lake
was frozen. Our anxiety was, in some measure, relieved on the 28th of
September, by the arrival of Beaulieu and some hunters, from the north
side of Bear Lake, with a supply of dried meat. The term of Beaulieu's
engagement being now expired, he was desirous of quitting our service;
and though he was our best hunter, Mr. Dease advised me to comply with
his request, as he had collected a number of useless followers, whom we
must have fed during the short days. He accordingly took his departure,
accompanied by seventeen persons, which was a very important relief to
our daily issue of provision. I furnished them with ammunition from the
store to enable them to hunt on their way to Marten Lake, where they
intended to fish until the return of spring.
[Sidenote: October.] Calculating that the stores, which had been ordered
from York Factory, must have arrived at Fort Norman, I despatched Mr.
Kendall for them; and he returned on the 8th of October, with as much of
them as his canoe would carry. The men were immediately furnished with
warm clothing, of which the eastern party were in great need, having
left every thing on quitting the sea-coast, except one suit each. We
were rejoiced at the receipt of a large packet of letters from England,
dated in the preceding February. They brought out the gratifying
intelligence that my friend Lieutenant Back had been promoted, in
December, 1825, to the rank of Commander. I likewise received a large
packet of news papers from his Excellency the Earl of Dalhousie,
Governor-in-Chief of Canada, to whom I take this opportunity of
returning my best thanks for the warm interest he took in the welfare of
the Expedition.
I shall now briefly trace the advance of winter: the nights were frosty
and the weather was unsettled and gloomy, from the time of our arrival
to the close of September. Heavy rain fell on the 2nd of October, which
on the following day was succeeded by hard frost and much snow. The snow
which fell on the 8th remained on the ground for the rest of the season.
The small lake was frozen on the 12th, from which day we dated the
commencement of winter as we had done in the preceding year. There was a
succession of gales, and almost constant snow from that time to the
close of the month; and on the 30th the thermometer first descended
below zero. The snow then was much deeper than at the close of November
in the former year. The last of the migratory birds, which were a few
hardy ducks, took their departure on the 18th of October.
[Sidenote: November.] Stormy weather kept the Bear Lake open until the
16th of November, nine days later than the year before; and for some
weeks we received no assistance from the nets, which again reduced our
stock of meat to a small quantity. The same occupations, amusements, and
exercise, were followed by the officers and men as in the former
residence; and the occurrences were so similar, that particular mention
of them is unnecessary. On the 25th of November we despatched some men
with dogs and sledges to bring the remainder of the stores from Fort
Norman. As it was my intention, as soon as the maps and drawings could
be finished, to proceed on the ice to Fort Chipewyan, in order to secure
provisions for the out-going of the party, and to reach England by the
earliest conveyance, I requested of Mr. Brisbois to provide a cariole,
sledges, and snow-shoes, for my journey, the birch of which they are
made being plentiful in the neighbourhood of Fort Norman, and he having
a better workman than any at our establishment. On the 28th Mackenzie
arrived from M'Vicar's Bay, with an acceptable supply of fine
white-fish. We learned from him that our party, as well as the Indians,
were living in abundance; and that the latter had shown their wisdom
this season, not only in taking up their quarters at that place, instead
of remaining about the Fort, as they had done in the former year, but
also in building themselves houses like those of our men, and thus
having more comforts and better shelter than they had ever before
enjoyed. The fishery opposite the Fort was now sufficiently productive
for our wants, though the fish, from being out of season, disagreed so
much with several of the men as to cause great debility, which was the
more distressing to us, as we were unable to supply the invalids with
meat on more than two days in the week. Contrary to what had happened
last season, we did not receive meat this year from more than six or
seven persons of either the Hare Indians or Dog-Rib tribes, after the
ice set in; this happened, probably, from our being now unprovided with
goods to exchange for their furs; though they had been expressly told in
the spring, that we should have abundance of ammunition, tobacco, and
other supplies, to purchase all the meat they would bring.
By the return of our men from Fort Norman, we learned that one of our
Dog-Rib hunters had murdered a man of his tribe, in the autumn, near
the mouth of the Bear Lake River. The culprit being at the house, we
inquired into the truth of the report, which was found correct; and he
was in consequence instantly discharged from our service. His victim had
been a man of notoriously loose habits, and in this instance had carried
off the hunter's wife and child, while he was in pursuit of deer, at a
great distance from the Fort. The husband pursued the guilty pair the
moment he discovered their flight, and, on overtaking them, instantly
shot the seducer; but the woman escaped a similar fate, by having the
presence of mind to turn aside the muzzle of the gun when in the act of
being discharged. She did not, however, escape punishment: her husband
struck her senseless to the ground with the stock of his gun, and would
have completed her destruction, but for the cries and intreaties of
their only child. This transaction adds another to the melancholy list
of about thirty murders which have been perpetrated on the borders of
this lake since 1799, when the first trading post was established.
The Dog-Rib Indians, being derived from the same stock with the
Chipewyans, have many traditions and opinions in common with that
people. I requested Mr. Dease to obtain answers from the old men of the
tribe to a few queries which I drew up, and the following is the
substance of the information he procured, which may be compared with the
more extended statements by Hearne and Mackenzie, of the general belief
of the Chipewyans.
The _first man_, they said, was, according to the tradition of their
fathers, named Chapewee. He found the world well stocked with food, and
he created children, to whom he gave two kinds of fruit, the black and
the white, but forbade them to eat the black. Having thus issued his
commands for the guidance of his family, he took leave of them for a
time, and made a long excursion for the purpose of conducting the sun to
the world. During this, his first absence, his children were obedient,
and ate only the white fruit, but they consumed it all; the consequence
was, that when he a second time absented himself to bring the moon, and
they longed for fruit, they forgot the orders of their father, and ate
of the black, which was the only kind remaining. He was much displeased
on his return, and told them that in future the earth would produce bad
fruits, and that they would be tormented by sickness and
death--penalties which have attached to his descendants to the present
day. Chapewee himself lived so long that his throat was worn out, and he
could no longer enjoy life; but he was unable to die, until, at his own
request, one of his people drove a beaver-tooth into his head.
The same, or another Chapewee (for there is some uncertainty on this
head,) lived with his family on a strait between two seas. Having there
constructed a weir to catch fish, such a quantity were taken, that the
strait was choked up, and the water rose and overflowed the earth.
Chapewee embarked with his family in a canoe, taking with them all
manner of birds and beasts. The waters covered the earth for many days,
but, at length, Chapewee said, we cannot live always thus, we must find
land again, and he accordingly sent a beaver to search for it. The
beaver was drowned, and his carcase was seen floating on the water; on
which Chapewee despatched a musk-rat on the same errand. The second
messenger was long absent, and when he did return was near dying with
fatigue, but he had a little earth in his paws. The sight of the earth
rejoiced Chapewee, but his first care was about the safety of his
diligent servant, the rat, which he rubbed gently with his hands, and
cherished in his bosom, until it revived. He next took up the earth, and
mouldering it with his fingers, placed it on the water, where it
increased by degrees until it formed an island in the ocean. A wolf was
the first animal Chapewee placed on the infant earth, but the weight
proving too great, it began to sink on one side, and was in danger of
turning over. To prevent this accident the wolf was directed to move
round the island, which he did for a whole year, and in that time the
earth increased so much in size, that all on board the canoe were able
to disembark on it. Chapewee, on landing, stuck up a piece of wood,
which became a fir-tree, and grew with amazing rapidity, until its top
reached the skies. A squirrel ran up this tree, and was pursued by
Chapewee, who endeavoured to knock it down, but could not overtake it.
He continued the chase, however, until he reached the stars, where he
found a fine plain, and a beaten road. In this road he set a snare made
of his sister's hair, and then returned to the earth. The sun appeared
as usual in the heavens in the morning, but at noon it was caught by the
snare which Chapewee had set for the squirrel, and the sky was instantly
darkened. Chapewee's family on this said to him, you must have done
something wrong when you were aloft, for we no longer enjoy the light of
day; "I have," replied he, "but it was unintentionally." Chapewee then
endeavoured to repair the fault he had committed, and sent a number of
animals up the tree to release the sun, by cutting the snare, but the
intense heat of that luminary reduced them all to ashes. The efforts of
the more active animals being thus frustrated, a ground mole, though
such a grovelling and awkward beast, succeeded by burrowing under the
road in the sky, until it reached and cut asunder the snare which bound
the sun. It lost its eyes, however, the instant it thrust its head into
the light, and its nose and teeth have ever since been brown, as if
burnt. Chapewee's island, during these transactions, increased to the
present size of the American Continent; and he traced the course of the
rivers, and scraped out the lakes by drawing his fingers through the
earth. He next allotted to the quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, their
different stations, and endowing them with certain capacities, he told
them that they were in future to provide for their own safety, because
man would destroy them whenever he found their tracks; but to console
them, he said, that when they died they should be like a seed of grass,
which, when thrown into the water, springs again into life. The animals
objected to this arrangement, and said, let us when we die be as a stone
which, when thrown into a lake, disappears forever from the sight of
man. Chapewee's family complained of the penalty of death entailed upon
them for eating the black fruit, on which he granted that such of them
as dreamed certain dreams should be men of medicine, capable of curing
diseases and of prolonging life. In order to preserve this virtue, they
were not to tell their dreams until a certain period had elapsed. To
acquire the power of foretelling events, they were to take an ant alive,
and insert it under the skin of the palm of the hand, without letting
any one know what they had done.
For a long time Chapewee's descendants were united as one family, but at
length some young men being accidentally killed in a game, a quarrel
ensued, and a general dispersion of mankind took place. One Indian fixed
his residence on the borders of the lake, taking with him a dog big with
young. The pups in due time were littered, and the Indian, when he went
out to fish, carefully tied them up to prevent their straying. Several
times as he approached his tent, he heard a noise of children talking
and playing; but on entering it he only perceived the pups tied up as
usual. His curiosity being excited by the noises he had heard, he
determined to watch, and one day pretending to go out and fish,
according to custom, he concealed himself in a convenient place. In a
short time he again heard voices, and rushing suddenly into the tent,
beheld some beautiful children sporting and laughing, with the dog-skins
lying by their side. He threw the skins into the fire, and the children,
retaining their proper forms, grew up, and were the ancestors of the
Dog-Rib nation.
On Mr. Dease questioning some of the elderly men as to their knowledge
of a supreme Being, they replied--"We believe that there is a Great
Spirit, who created every thing, both us and the world for our use. We
suppose that he dwells in the lands from whence the white people come,
that he is kind to the inhabitants of those lands, and that there are
people there who never die: the winds that blow from that quarter
(south) are always warm. He does not know the wretched state of our
island, nor the pitiful condition in which we are."
To the question, whom do your medicine men address when they conjure?
They answered,--"We do not think that they speak to the master of life,
for if they did, we should fare better than we do, and should not die.
He does not inhabit our lands."
[Sidenote: December.] On the evening of the 1st of December a brilliant
comet appeared in the western quarter, which had been indistinctly seen
the two preceding nights. A line drawn through alpha and eta Ursae Majoris
led to its position; it also formed a trapezium with alpha Aquilae and alpha
Lyrae and alpha Coronae Borealis. This was the last night of its being
visible. The temperature had been unusually high for several days, about
this time +18 above zero; and, with the exception of the night of the
1st, the atmosphere gloomy; and we amused ourselves with conjecturing,
whether this extraordinary warmth, and the density of the clouds, could
in any way be ascribed to the comet.
At Christmas we were favoured by a visit from Mr. Brisbois, to whom we
felt much obliged for the care he had taken of our sea-stores, beside
many personal civilities. The visit of a stranger is always heartily
welcomed in such a desolate region, and to provide for the entertainment
of the party during Mr. Brisbois's stay, Captain Back and Mr. Kendall
displayed their ingenuity in cutting out several pasteboard figures, to
represent behind an illuminated screen the characters of a comic piece,
which Captain Back had written for the occasion. The exhibition was
entirely new to most of the party, and its execution afforded such
general amusement, that it was repeated on three nights at the request
of the men. [Sidenote: January.] The New Year was celebrated by a dance,
which closed our festivities; and on Mr. Brisbois quitting us the
following day, we resumed our ordinary occupations. Two Hare Indians
arrived at the fort, whom Mr. Kendall recognised as the persons who had
brought provisions to Dr. Richardson's party, as soon as they had heard
of his having reached the Bear Lake Portage; and we had much pleasure
in rewarding their promptitude on that occasion, by a substantial
present and a silver medal. They were particularly pleased at the
medals, and assured us that they should be proud to show them to the
rest of their tribe as tokens of our approbation.
On the evening of the 4th of January, the temperature being -52.2
degrees, Mr. Kendall froze some mercury in the mould of a pistol bullet,
and fired it against a door at the distance of six paces. A small
portion of the mercury penetrated to the depth of one eighth of an inch,
but the remainder only just lodged in the wood. Much snow fell in the
second week of January; and on the 12th, we ascertained that its average
depth was two feet in the sheltered parts of the woods. The weather
became mild after the 20th; and on the 22nd, the sun's rays were so
powerful as to raise a spirit thermometer with a blackened bulb, to
+30.5 degrees, when the temperature of the air was -3.5 degrees. A very
brilliant and clearly defined parhelion was visible at the time, and
there were only a few light clouds. The wind was east, and as usual,
with the wind from that quarter when the sky is clear, the distant land
appeared much distorted by refraction.
The documents which had been preparing being now nearly finished, we
sent for the cariole, &c. from Fort Norman. [Sidenote: 18th.] When the
men came back, they brought the information, that, according to the
report of the Indians, the ice was so rough on the Mackenzie above Fort
Norman, that travelling would be extremely difficult. I therefore
abandoned the intention of proceeding by that way, and resolved on
passing through the woods to Fort Simpson, as soon as guides could be
procured. The delay afforded me the opportunity of registering the
lowest temperature we had witnessed in this country. [Sidenote:
February.] At a quarter after eight in the morning of the 7th of
February, the thermometer descended to -58 degrees; it had been -57.5
degrees, and 57.3 degrees thrice in the course of this and the preceding
day--between the 5th and 8th, its general state was from -48 degrees to
-52 degrees, though it occasionally rose to -43 degrees.
At Fort Enterprise, during a similar degree of cold, the atmosphere had
been calm: but here we had a light wind, which sometimes approached to a
fresh breeze. The sky was cloudless the whole time. Some of our men, as
well as the Indians, were travelling on the lake during this cold
without experiencing any greater inconvenience than having their faces
frost bitten. The dogs, however, suffered severely, three being
completely lamed by the frost, and all of them becoming much
thinner.[15] These cold days were followed by windy though mild weather,
which brought the rein-deer nearer to the Establishment; and our hunters
killed seven within a day's march. Their reappearance in our
neighbourhood was very gratifying to the whole party, as we were
heartily tired of a fish-diet, and I felt an especial pleasure at being
able to quit the place without the least apprehension of the party being
in want of provision.
The following is a list of the amount of provision we obtained at Fort
Franklin, from the time of Mr. Dease's arrival to the close of January
1827; independent of the supplies of pemmican, &c. for the sea voyage,
which were procured from the Hudson's Bay Company.
Small Fish, Bear Lake Herring, 79,440.--Trout, 3,475.--Pounds of fresh
meat, 24,053.--Dried ribs of Rein Deer, 2,370.--Pounds of pounded deer's
meat, 1,744.--Pounds of fat or tallow, 2,929.--Rein-deer tongues,
1,849.--Beaver, 12.--Partridges, 386.--Hares, 52.
On the 16th of February, Augustus and two Dog-Ribs were sent forward to
be at the track in the line of my intended route. My departure being
fixed for the 20th, the charts, drawings, journals, and provisions were
distributed between the cariole and three sledges of which my train
consisted; and as the dogs were in too weak a condition for drawing
heavy burdens, two Indians were engaged, to accompany us four days, for
the purpose of carrying part of the pemmican. I afterwards delivered
written instructions to Captain Back, directing him to proceed to York
Factory as soon as the ice should break, and from thence, by the
Hudson's Bay ship, to England, taking with him the British party, but to
send the Canadians to Montreal. Augustus and Ooligbuck were to be
forwarded to Churchill, that they might rejoin their relatives.
[Sidenote: Tuesday, 20th.] At ten A.M., I quitted the Fort, accompanied
by five of our men and the two Indians, the latter dragging each sixty
pounds of pemmican on their sledges. Captain Back, the officers, and men
assembled to give us a farewell salute of three hearty cheers, which
served to renew my regret at leaving a society whose members had
endeared themselves to me by unremitting attention to their duties, and
the greatest personal kindness. We crossed the lake expeditiously,
favoured by a north-west gale, and then continued our course to the
southward until sunset. The mode of bivouacking in the winter, as well
as the course of proceeding, having been so fully described in my former
Narrative, and by several other travellers in this country, I need not
repeat them. We usually set forward at the first appearance of light and
marched until sunset, halting an hour to breakfast. The rate of walking
depended on the depth of snow; where the track was good, we made about
two miles in the hour.
On the evening of the second day, we were deserted by our Indian
companions, who, as we afterwards learned, took advantage of the rest of
the party being some distance in advance of them, to turn back to the
nearest wood, and there deposit the pemmican on a stage which they
constructed by the road side. Supposing that they had only halted in
consequence of the gale that was then blowing, we did not send to look
after them before the following morning, when every trace of their path
was covered with the snow drift; and as I considered we might possibly
spend some time in a fruitless search, I thought the wisest course was
to put the party and dogs on a shorter allowance than usual, and proceed
on our journey. Their conduct affords another instance of the little
dependence that ought to be placed on the Indians of this country, when
more than ordinary exertion is required.
[Sidenote: March.] We travelled fifty miles through a swampy level
country, thinly wooded, with a few ridges of hills visible in the
distance, east and west of our course. The country was uneven and better
wooded for the succeeding thirty miles. We next crossed a steep range of
hills elevated about eight hundred feet above the surrounding land, and
then passing over a succession of lower hills and vallies, descended to
the Mackenzie, and following that river for thirty miles, came to Fort
Simpson on the 8th of March; the whole distance being two hundred and
twenty miles, and for the last one hundred and seventy miles, through a
well wooded country. We crossed several rivers which flow into the
Mackenzie, and some considerable lakes which are laid down in the map.
But one solitary family of Indians were seen on the journey, and these
were stationed within a day's march of Fort Simpson. They had inclosed
large tracts of ground with hedges, in which they set snares for hares,
and, being very successful, were living in abundance, and were well
clothed, their dress consisting principally of hare skins.
As soon as Mr. Smith, the chief Factor of the District, was informed of
our approach, and that we were short of provisions, in consequence of
the Indians having made off with the pemmican, he kindly sent a supply
of fresh meat for our use; and on our arrival at the Fort, he gave us
the most friendly reception. Our Indian guide had never been nearer to
Fort Simpson by land, than the Lake of the Elevated Land, and only once
by the course of the Mackenzie, many years before the Fort was built;
and yet if he had not been led aside by falling upon the track leading
to the Indians above-mentioned, he would have come upon the Mackenzie,
directly opposite Fort Simpson. His course he told me was governed by
his recollection of a particular mountain, which he remembered to have
noticed from the Mackenzie, and which we now passed within two miles,
but on his former visit, he did not approach it nearer than eighteen
miles. Its outline must have appeared so different when seen from these
distances, that one can hardly imagine a less observant eye than that of
an Indian recognising any of its distinguishing points, especially as it
was not a detached mountain, but formed one of a line of hills of
considerable extent. Our dogs being completely tired, I remained a week
to recruit their strength. During this interval I had the opportunity of
examining all the accounts which the Hudson's Bay Company had to present
for supplies to the Expedition from this department, and of making
provision for the outward journey of Captain Back and his party.
Arrangements were also made, that the Hudson's Bay Company should take,
at a valuation, the spare stores of the Expedition on its quitting Bear
Lake. I accompanied Mr. Smith to a part of the River of the Mountains,
where a portion of the bank, several acres in extent, had been torn off,
and thrown a considerable distance into the channel of the river. The
disruption took place in the preceding November, some days after the
water had been frozen, and when there was no apparent cause for its
separation. When the water is flowing over the banks, and the earth is
in consequence loosened, the falling of the bank is not unfrequent in
the Mackenzie, though on a much smaller scale than in this instance. I
can only account for the separation of the mass after the ground had
been frozen, by the supposition, that there was some spring of warm
water in its rear, which loosened the soil, and that the pressure of the
ice contributed, with the weight of snow at the top, to its overthrow.
At the time of my visit, an Indian woman committed suicide, by hanging
herself, in a fit of jealousy, at an encampment a short distance from
the Fort. I had thought that suicide was extremely rare among the
Northern Indians; but I subsequently learned that it was not so uncommon
as I had imagined, and I was informed of two instances that occurred in
the year of 1826. The weather was remarkably mild; during my stay
icicles were formed on the southern front of the house, and there were
many other indications of an early spring.
[Sidenote: Thursday, 15th.] On the afternoon of the 15th of March I took
leave of Mr. Smith, who kindly furnished me with his best dog for my
cariole, one of mine having proved unfit for the journey to Slave Lake;
we were also indebted to him for the skin of a mountain goat and a lynx;
and to Mr. M'Pherson for the skins of several smaller animals and birds,
from the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, which they added to our
collection. Having sent back one of my men with the Indian guides to
Bear Lake, we had now only two sledges; but as we were unable to carry
the whole of our lading, Mr. Smith had the goodness to send a sledge and
one of his men to convey a part of the provisions for four days. At the
distance of eight miles we met two men with a cariole and sledge, which
Mr. M'Vicar had sent for my use from Slave Lake; but being well provided
I did not require the services of this party, though we derived great
benefit from their track as we proceeded, and also from some deposits of
provision which they had made on the route.
[Sidenote: Wednesday, 21st.] Following the course of the Mackenzie, we
arrived, on the 21st, at the expansion of the river called the Little
Lake, and there had the pleasure of meeting two Canadians, on their way
to Bear Lake, with a packet of letters from England. We hastened towards
the shore and encamped; and though the night was piercingly cold, I
spent the greatest part of it most agreeably, scanning the contents of
the box by the unsteady light of a blazing fire. After breakfast next
morning I despatched the packet to its destination, under the charge of
M'Leay, who had accompanied me from Bear Lake, and retained one of the
Canadians in his stead. We arrived at Fort Resolution, on the Slave Lake
to breakfast, on the 26th, and I once more had the happiness of
receiving the friendly attentions of Mr. M'Vicar, to whom it will be
remembered by the readers of my last Narrative, that the members of that
Expedition were so greatly indebted for his tender care of them after
their sufferings. Dr. Richardson had quitted this place in the preceding
December, for the purpose of joining Mr. Drummond, the Assistant
Botanist in the Saskatchawan River, and that he might have the benefit
of an earlier spring than in this quarter to collect plants. The
prospect here being completely wintry, I made another halt of eight
days, being desirous of remaining as long as I could, without incurring
the risk of exposure to the thaw on my way to Fort Chipewyan.
I was glad to find that the Chipewyans and Copper Indians were at length
employing dogs to drag their sledges. A superstitious belief that their
own origin was derived from those animals, had for several years past
thrown this laborious and degrading occupation on the poor women, who,
by the change, experienced a most happy relief. It was indeed, highly
gratifying to observe that these Indians no longer beat their wives in
the cruel manner to which they had been formerly accustomed; and that,
in the comparative tenderness with which they now treat the sex, they
have made the first and greatest step to all moral and general
improvement.
It will be recollected that on receiving, at Bear Lake, a report of the
traces of white people having been seen near the sea-coast, I had
requested that Mr. M'Vicar would collect a party of Indians, and send
them to the spot to convey a letter from me to Captain Parry. Mr.
M'Vicar now informed me that some Indians had left his Fort for the
purpose, under the charge of a Canadian, named Joseph St. Pierre, who
volunteered for the occasion, but the Indians continued with him only
for a short distance beyond the east end of Slave Lake, when they became
weary of their journey, and dropping off one by one, left him alone. St.
Pierre, however, having determined to deliver the letter to Captain
Parry, if possible, persevered for many days in a fruitless search for
the river on the banks of which the marks were reported to have been
seen; even after he had sustained the loss of all his clothes (except
those on his person,) by the grass catching fire when he was asleep; but
at length, being short of food, his shoes worn out, and almost without
covering for his feet, he was compelled to return to the Fort. He was
not at the house at the time of my visit, but I left an order with Mr.
M'Vicar, that he might be rewarded for his zeal and exertions, and
handsomely remunerated for his loss.
[Sidenote: April.] The subsequent journey to the Athabasca Lake occupied
eight days; we arrived at Fort Chipewyan in the afternoon of the 12th of
April. I found Mr. Stewart, the Chief Factor of the Department,
surrounded by a large body of Indians, who quitted the Fort as soon as
they had exchanged their furs, in order to seek their living by fishing
and hunting wild fowl, instead of passing four or five weeks in
indolence about the Establishment, as had been their custom at this
season for many preceding years. This beneficial change of conduct, on
their part, is owing to the Hudson's Bay Company having ceased to bring
spirits into the northern department; and to some other judicious
regulations which the Directors have made respecting the trade with the
natives. The plans now adopted offer supplies of clothes, and of every
necessary, to those Indians who choose to be active in the collection of
furs; and it was pleasing to learn, that the natives in this quarter had
shown their acquiescence in these measures by increased exertion during
the preceding winter. Some other very wholesome regulations have been
introduced by the Company; amongst others, the Sabbath is ordered to be
properly observed, and Divine Service to be read at every post. They
have also directed, where the soil will allow, a portion of ground to be
cultivated for the growth of culinary vegetables at each of their
establishments, and I witnessed the good effects of this order, even at
this advanced post, where the ground is rocky; the tables of the
officers being supplied daily, and those of the men frequently, with
potatoes and barley. Such luxuries were very rarely found beyond
Cumberland House, on the route that we travelled during my former
journey.
Feeling a deep interest in the welfare of this country, in which I have
spent a large portion of the last seven years, I have much pleasure in
recording these improvements; and in stating my conviction, that the
benevolent wishes of the Directors, respecting the inhabitants of their
territories, will be followed up with corresponding energy by the
resident Governor, the chief factors, and the traders of the Company.
I mentioned in my former Narrative, that the Northern Indians had
cherished a belief for some years, that a great change was about to take
place in the natural order of things, and that among other advantages
arising from it, their own condition of life was to be materially
bettered. This story, I was now informed by Mr. Stewart, originated with
a woman, whose history appears to me deserving of a short notice. While
living at the N.W. Company's Post, on the Columbia River, as the wife of
one of the Canadian servants, she formed a sudden resolution of becoming
a warrior; and throwing aside her female dress, she clothed herself in a
suitable manner. Having procured a gun, a bow and arrows, and a horse,
she sallied forth to join a party of her countrymen then going to war;
and, in her first essay, displayed so much courage as to attract general
regard, which was so much heightened by her subsequent feats of bravery,
that many young men put themselves under her command. Their example was
soon generally followed, and, at length she became the principal leader
of the tribe, under the designation of the "Manlike Woman." Being
young, and of a delicate frame, her followers attributed her exploits to
the possession of supernatural power, and, therefore, received whatever
she said with implicit faith. To maintain her influence during peace,
the lady thought proper to invent the above-mentioned prediction, which
was quickly spread through the whole northern district. At a later
period of her life, our heroine undertook to convey a packet of
importance from the Company's Post on the Columbia to that in New
Caledonia, through a tract of country which had not, at that time, been
passed by the traders, and which was known to be infested by several
hostile tribes. She chose for her companion another woman, whom she
passed off as her wife. They were attacked by a party of Indians, and
though the Manlike Woman received a wound in the breast, she
accomplished her object, and returned to the Columbia with answers to
the letters. When last seen by the traders, she had collected volunteers
for another war excursion, in which she received a mortal wound. The
faith of the Indians was shaken by her death, and soon afterwards the
whole of the story she had invented fell into discredit.
In the Athabasca department, which includes Slave Lake and Peace River,
as well as in the more southern districts, the autumn of 1826, and the
following winter, were unusually mild. Near the Saskatchawan River,
there was so little snow before the middle of January, that the sledges
could not be used; but at Bear Lake, and throughout the Mackenzie, the
weather was severe during the same periods, and the snow came early;
hence it would appear, that even in this climate the meteorological
register kept at any one place, affords no index from whence we can
judge of the season at another. In my journey from Slave Lake to the
Athabasca we had a snow-storm for three days, which we found did not
extend beyond sixty miles; and on our arrival at Fort Chipewyan, we
learned there had not been a single shower during these days. The only
coinciding circumstance, at the different stations this year, was the
prevalence of north-east winds.
[Sidenote: Sunday, 15th.] We welcomed the appearance of two of the
large-sized swans on the 15th April, as the harbingers of spring; the
geese followed on the 20th; the robins came on the 7th May; the house
martins appeared on the 12th, and in the course of a week were busily
employed repairing their nests; and the barn or forked-tail swallows
arrived on the 20th; and on the same day, the small-sized swans were
seen, which the traders consider the latest of the migratory birds.
[Sidenote: May, 20th.] The only symptoms of reviving vegetation at this
period, were a few anemones in flower, and the bursting of some catkins
of willows; but we learned by an arrival of a boat from the Peace River
that, even so early as the 14th, the trees were in full foliage at not
more than a day's journey from the lake. The barley was sown at Fort
Chipewyan on the 15th May, potatoes on the 21st, and the garden seeds on
the 22d, which were expected to be ready for use by the close of the
following September. As an experiment, whether the barley would yield a
better crop by remaining in the ground through the winter, some had been
sown in the preceding autumn, but only a few of the plants appeared at
the close of this month, and the crop did not promise favourably.
Some canoes having arrived on the 26th of May with the furs from Slave
Lake, the last of the Company's brigade of boats was despatched to York
Factory. Augustus, who was desirous of seeing Dr. Richardson again
before his departure from the country, and two other men of the
Expedition, embarked in them. I embarked on the 31st May in the
Company's light canoe with Mr. Stewart and Mr. M'Vicar, having
previously made the necessary arrangements for the passage of Captain
Back and his party. We reached Cumberland House on the 18th June, where
I had the happiness of meeting Dr. Richardson after a separation of
eleven months. I learned from him that during our absence in the north,
Mr. Drummond the Assistant Botanist had been indefatigable in collecting
specimens of Natural History, having been sent for that purpose to the
Rocky Mountains at the head of the Athabasca River; in the course of
which service, he had been exposed to very great privations. To his
perseverance and industry, science is indebted for the knowledge of
several new and many rare quadrupeds, birds, and plants. That the reader
may form some notion of the labour he sustained, and the zeal he
displayed in making his very valuable and highly interesting
collections, and to point out to the naturalist, the districts from
whence they were brought, I subjoin his brief account of his journey in
his own words.
[Sidenote: 1825, June.] "I remained at Cumberland House about six weeks
after the departure of Captain Back and Mr. Kendall, in June, 1825, when
the Company's boats with the brigade of traders for the Columbia,
arriving from York Factory, I accompanied them up the Saskatchawan River
two hundred and sixty miles to Carlton House. The unsettled state of the
Indians in that neighbourhood rendering excursions over the plains very
unsafe, I determined on proceeding with the brigade as far as the Rocky
Mountains. We left Carlton House on the 1st of September, and reached
Edmonton, which is about four hundred miles distant on the 20th of the
same month. Sandy plains extend without material alteration the whole
way, and there is, consequently, little variety in the vegetation;
indeed, I did not find a single plant that I had not seen within ten
miles of Carlton House, although I had an opportunity of examining the
country carefully, having performed the greater part of the journey on
foot. After a halt of two days at Edmonton, we continued our route one
hundred miles farther to Fort Assinaboyn on the Red Deer River, one of
the branches of the Athapescow. This part of the journey was performed
with horses through a swampy and thickly wooded country, and the path
was so bad, that it was necessary to reduce the luggage as much as
possible. I therefore took with me only one bale of paper for drying
plants, a few shirts, and a blanket; Mr. M'Millan, one of the Company's
chief traders, who had charge of the brigade, kindly undertaking to
forward the rest of my baggage in the ensuing spring. [Sidenote:
October, 2d.] We left Fort Assinaboyn to proceed up the Red Deer River
to the Mountains, on the 2d of October; but the Canoe appointed for this
service being very much lumbered, it was necessary that some of the
party should travel by land, and of that number, I volunteered to be
one. A heavy fall of snow, on the third day after setting out, rendered
the march very fatiguing, and the country being thickly wooded and very
swampy, our horses were rendered useless before we had travelled half
the distance."
"We reached the mountains on the 14th, and I continued to accompany the
brigade, for fifty miles of the Portage-road, to the Columbia, when we
met a hunter whom Mr. M'Millan hired to supply me with food during the
winter. The same gentleman having furnished me with horses and a man to
take care of them, I set out with the hunter and his family towards the
Smoking River, one of the eastern branches of the Peace River, on which
we intended to winter. [Sidenote: December.] My guide, however, loitered
so much on the way, that the snow became too deep to admit of our
proceeding to our destination, and we were under the necessity of
leaving the Mountains altogether, and taking up our winter-quarters
about the end of December, on the Baptiste, a stream which falls into
the Red Deer River. During the journey, I collected a few specimens of
the birds that pass the winter in the country, and which belong
principally to the genera _tetrao_ and _strix_. I also obtained a few
mosses, and on Christmas day, I had the pleasure of finding a very
minute _gymnostomum_, hitherto undescribed."
"In the winter, I felt the inconvenience of the want of my tent, the
only shelter I had from the inclemency of the weather being a hut built
of the branches of trees. Soon after reaching our wintering ground,
provisions became very scarce, and the hunter and his family went off in
quest of animals, taking with them the man who had charge of my horses
to bring me a supply as soon as they could procure it. I remained alone
for the rest of the winter, except when my man occasionally visited me
with meat; and I found the time hang very heavy, as I had no books, and
nothing could be done in the way of collecting specimens of Natural
History. I took however, a walk every day in the woods to give me some
practice in the use of snow shoes. The winter was very severe, and much
snow fell until the end of March, when it averaged six feet in depth; in
consequence of this, I lost one of my horses, and the two remaining ones
became exceedingly poor. The hunter was still more unfortunate, ten of
his young colts having died."
[Sidenote: April 1826.] "In the beginning of April, 1826, setting out
for the Columbia Portage road, I reached it after a fatiguing march on
the sixth day, and two days afterwards, had the pleasure of meeting Mr.
M'Millan, who brought me letters from Dr. Richardson, informing me of
the welfare of the Expedition; and he also placed me in comparatively
comfortable circumstances by bringing my tent, a little tea and sugar,
and some more paper. [Sidenote: May, 6th.] I remained on the Portage
preparing specimens of birds until the 6th of May, when the brigade from
the Columbia arrived. On that day the _Anemone cuneifolia_, and
_Ludoviciana_ and _Saxifraga oppositifolia_, began to flower in
favourable situations. My hunter, who had, in the mean time, returned to
our late wintering ground, now sent me word that he had changed his
mind, and would not accompany me into the Mountains, as he had engaged
to do. His fickleness deranged my plans, and I had no alternative but to
remain with the man who had charge of the horses used on the Columbia
Portage, and botanize in that neighbourhood."
[Sidenote: August.] "On the 10th of August, I set out with another
hunter, upon whom I had prevailed to conduct me to the Smoking River,
although, being disappointed in a supply of ammunition, we were badly
provided. We travelled for several days without meeting with any
animals, and I shared the little dried provision which I had with the
hunter's family. On the 15th we killed a Mountain sheep, which was
quickly devoured, there not being the smallest apprehension at the time
that famine would overtake us--day after day, however, passed away
without a single head of game of any description being seen, and the
children began to complain loudly; but the hunter's wife, a young
half-breed woman, bore the abstinence with indifference, although she
had two infant twins at the breast. On the 21st, we found two young
porcupines, which were shared amongst the party, and two or three days
afterwards, a few fine trout were caught. We arrived in the Smoking
River on the 5th of September, where the hunter killed two sheep, and a
period was put to our abstinence, for before the sheep were eaten, he
shot several buffaloes."
[Sidenote: September.] "We proceeded along the Mountains until the 24th
of September, and had reached the head waters of the Peace River, when a
heavy fall of snow stopped my collecting plants for that season. I was,
however, very desirous of crossing the Mountains to obtain some
knowledge of the vegetation on the Columbia River, and, accordingly, I
commenced drying provisions to enable me to accompany the Columbia
brigade, when it arrived from Hudson's Bay. [Sidenote: October.] I
reached the Portage on the 9th of October, and on the 10th the brigade
arrived, and I received letters from Captain Franklin, instructing me to
descend in the spring of 1827, time enough to rejoin the Expedition on
its way to York Factory. It was, therefore, necessary that I should
speedily commence my return, and having gone with the brigade merely to
the west-end of the Portage, I came back again on the 1st of November.
The snow covered the ground too deeply to permit me to add much to my
collections in this hasty trip over the Mountains, but it was impossible
to avoid remarking the great superiority of climate on the western side
of that lofty range. From the instant the descent toward the Pacific
commences, there is a visible improvement in the growth of timber, and
the variety of forest trees greatly increases. The few mosses that I
gleaned in the excursion were so fine, that I could not but deeply
regret that I was unable to pass a season or two in that interesting
region."
"Having packed up all my specimens, I embarked on the Red Deer River,
with Mr. M'Donald, one of the Company's officers, who was returning from
a long residence on the Columbia with his family, and continued to
descend the stream until we were set fast by the frost. I then left Mr.
M'Donald in the charge of the baggage, and, proceeding on foot to Fort
Assinaboyn, for the purpose of procuring horses, I reached it on the
fifth day. It was several days before the horses could be obtained, and
they were several more in travelling from the Fort to Mr. M'Donald,
during which time that gentleman and his family were very short of
provisions. The relief, however, arrived opportunely, and they reached
the Fort in safety. After resting a few days, I set out for Edmonton,
where I remained for some months."
[Sidenote: March.] "The winter express brought me a letter from Dr.
Richardson, requesting me to join him at Carlton House in April, and I
accordingly set out for that place on snow shoes, on the 17th of March,
taking with me single specimens of all the plants gathered on the
Mountains, lest any accident should happen to the duplicates which were
to come by canoe in the spring. [Sidenote: April.] Two men with a sledge
drawn by dogs accompanied me, but the Indian inhabitants of the plains
being very hostile, we made a large circuit to avoid them, and did not
reach Carlton House before the 5th of April. We suffered much from
snow-blindness on the march, the dogs failed from want of food, we had
to carry the baggage on our backs, and had nothing to eat for seven
days. These sufferings were, however, soon forgotten in the kind welcome
I received from Dr. Richardson, and Mr. Prudens, the Company's Chief
Trader at Carlton, and the hospitable entertainment and good fare of the
latter gentleman's table enabled me speedily to recruit my lost
strength."
"My collections on the Mountains amounted to about fifteen hundred
species of plants, one hundred and fifty birds, fifty quadrupeds, and a
considerable number of insects."
[Sidenote: June.] There being yet two months in which Mr. Drummond might
continue his researches, before Captain Back could arrive at Cumberland
House, Dr. Richardson had left him on the Saskatchawan River.
[Sidenote: 18th.] After remaining part of a day at Cumberland House, we
proceeded on our journey, Dr. Richardson following in one of the
Company's boats. I reached Norway House on the 24th of June, and Dr.
Richardson on the third day after. Mr. Simpson, the resident Governor of
the Company, was absent on urgent business at York Factory; but,
previous to his departure, he had provided a canoe, and some additional
men, with every other requisite for my journey. We found here Mr.
Douglass, who had been sent to the Columbia River by the Horticultural
Society, as a Collector of Natural History, and who had recently crossed
the Rocky Mountains, for the purpose of proceeding to England from
Hudson's Bay. This gentleman being desirous of occupying himself
previous to the arrival of the ship, in making an addition to his
collection from the neighbourhood of the Red River Colony, I felt happy
in being able to give him a conveyance, in the canoe with Dr. Richardson
and myself, through Lake Winipeg, to Fort Alexander, where he met
another canoe that was going to the Colony.
On quitting Norway House we took leave of our worthy companion,
Augustus, who was to wait there until Captain Back should arrive. The
tears which he shed at our parting, so unusual in those uncultivated
tribes, showed the strength of his feelings, and I have no doubt, they
proceeded from a sincere affection; an affection which, I can venture to
say, was mutually felt by every individual. With great regret he learned
that there was no immediate prospect of our again meeting, and he
expressed a very strong desire to be informed, if another Expedition
should be sent to any of the northern parts of America, whether by sea
or land; and repeatedly assured me, that he and Ooligbuck would be ready
at any time to quit their families and their country, to accompany any
of their present officers, wherever the Expedition might be ordered.[16]
We reached Fort Alexander on the 8th of July, and Mr. Douglass having
left us, I was enabled to offer a passage, as far as Montreal, to
Monsieur Picard, one of the clergymen attached to the Roman Catholic
Mission at the Red River Colony. [Sidenote: August.] We arrived at
Lachine, near Montreal, on the 18th of August, and were hospitably
entertained by Mr. James Keith, Chief Factor, and Agent of the Hudson's
Bay Company, with whom we remained five days, to settle the accounts of
the Expedition. After I had paid my respects to his Excellency, the Earl
of Dalhousie, Governor in Chief of Canada, we proceeded to New York by
the way of Lake Champlain. In our passage through the United States, we
received the same kind attentions we had before experienced; our
personal baggage, and the collections of Natural History, were forwarded
by the officers of the customs without examination, and every assistance
we required was promptly rendered.
[Sidenote: September.] Having embarked, in the packet ship, on the 1st
of September, we reached Liverpool on the 26th, after an absence of two
years, seven months and a half. Captain Back, Lieutenant Kendall, and
Mr. Drummond, with the rest of the British party, arrived at Portsmouth
on the 10th of October. I then received the distressing intelligence of
the death of two excellent men, on their homeward passage from Bear Lake
to York Factory; Archibald Stewart, who died from consumption; and
Gustavus Aird, who was drowned in consequence of his jumping out of the
boat, in his exertions to save her, when she was hurrying down the
Pelican Fall, in Slave River. Until this account reached me, I had
cherished the hope that our Expedition would have terminated without my
having to record a single casualty. The loss of these men was the more
deeply felt by me, from their uniform, steady, obedient, and meritorious
conduct, which I had repeated opportunities of observing and admiring,
while they were my companions in the Lion, during the voyage along the
coast.
I must be allowed to add, that in this long homeward journey, in which
there were no fresh discoveries to be made, nor any of those excitements
that relieve the monotony of constant labour, and in which they had to
contend with a succession of dangerous rapids, there was the same
masterly skill and exemplary conduct evinced by Captain Back and
Lieutenant Kendall; and the same patient and ready obedience by the
men[17], which had marked their whole conduct, while more immediately
under my own observation.
On my arrival in London, on the 29th of September, accompanied by Dr.
Richardson, I had the honour of laying the charts and drawings before
his Royal Highness the Lord High Admiral, and Mr. Secretary Huskisson;
and, from the latter, I received directions to publish an account of our
proceedings.
* * * * *
In concluding this Narrative, I feel it incumbent on me to offer a few
remarks on the subject of a _North-West Passage_, which, though it has
not been the immediate object of the enterprises in which I have been
engaged, is yet so intimately connected with them, as to have naturally
excited in my mind, a strong and permanent interest. It is scarcely
necessary to remark, that the opinion I ventured to express in my former
work, as to the practicability of the passage[18], has been considerably
strengthened by the information obtained during the present Expedition.
The Northern Coast of America has now been actually surveyed from the
meridian of 109 degrees to 149-1/2 degrees west; and again by the
exertions of Captain Beechey, in His Majesty's ship the Blossom, from
Icy Cape eastward to about 156 degrees west, leaving not more than fifty
leagues of unsurveyed coast, between Point Turnagain and Icy Cape.
Further, the delineation of the west side of Melville Peninsula, in the
chart of Captain Parry's Second Voyage, conjoined with information which
we obtained from the Northern Indians, fairly warrants the conclusion,
that the coast preserves an easterly direction from Point Turnagain
towards Repulse Bay; and that, in all probability, there are no
insurmountable obstacles between this part of the Polar Sea and the
extensive openings into the Atlantic, through Prince Regent Inlet and
the Strait of the Fury and Hecla.
Whenever it may be considered desirable to complete the delineation of
the coast of the American Continent, I conceive that another attempt
should be made to connect Point Turnagain with the important discoveries
of Captain Parry, by renewing the Expedition which was undertaken by
Captain Lyon, and which, but for the boisterous weather that disabled
the Griper, must have long since repaid his well known zeal and
enterprize with discoveries of very great interest.
In considering the best means of effecting the North-West Passage in a
ship, it has hitherto been impossible not to assent to the opinion so
judiciously formed, and so convincingly stated, by Captain Parry, that
the attempt should be made from the Atlantic rather than by Behring's
Straits, because the enterprise is then commenced after a voyage of
short duration, subject to comparatively few vicissitudes of climate,
and with the equipments thoroughly effective. But important as these
advantages are, they may, perhaps, be more than balanced by some
circumstances which have been brought to light by our Expedition. The
prevalence of north-west winds during the season that the ice is in the
most favourable state for navigation, would greatly facilitate the
voyage of a ship to the eastward, whilst it would be equally adverse to
her progress in the opposite direction. It is also well known, that the
coast westward of the Mackenzie is almost unapproachable by ships, and
it would, therefore, be very desirable to get over that part of the
voyage in the first season. Though we did not observe any such easterly
current as was found by Captain Parry in the Fury and Hecla Strait, as
well as by Captain Kotzebue, on his voyage through Behring's Straits;
yet this may have arisen from our having been confined to the navigation
of the flats close to the shore; but if such a current does exist
throughout the Polar Sea, it is evident that it would materially assist
a ship commencing the undertaking from the Pacific, and keeping in the
deep water, which would, no doubt, be found at a moderate distance from
the shore.
The closeness and quantity of the ice in the Polar Seas vary much in
different years; but, should it be in the same state that we found it, I
would not recommend a ship's leaving Icy Cape earlier than the middle of
August, for after that period the ice was not only broken up within the
sphere of our vision, but a heavy swell rolling from the northward,
indicated a sea unsheltered by islands, and not much encumbered by ice.
By quitting Icy Cape at the time specified, I should confidently hope to
reach a secure wintering place to the eastward of Cape Bathurst, in the
direct route to the Dolphin and Union Straits, through which I should
proceed.[19] If either, or both, of the plans which I have suggested be
adopted, it would add to the confidence and safety of those who
undertake them, if one or two depots of provisions were established in
places of ready access, through the medium of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Arctic discovery has been fostered principally by Great Britain; and it
is a subject of just pride that it has been prosecuted by her from
motives as disinterested as they are enlightened; not from any prospect
of immediate benefit to herself, but from a steady view to the
acquirement of useful knowledge, and the extension of the bounds of
science. Each succeeding attempt has added a step towards the completion
of northern geography; and the contributions to natural history and
science have excited a general interest throughout the civilized world.
It is, moreover, pleasing to reflect that the loss of life which has
occurred in the prosecution of these discoveries does not exceed the
average number of deaths in the same population at home under
circumstances the most favourable. And it is sincerely to be hoped that
Great Britain will not relax her efforts until the question of a
north-west passage has been satisfactorily set at rest, or at least
until those portions of the northern shores of America, which are yet
unknown, be laid down in our maps; and which with the exception of a
small space on the Asiatic continent eastward of Shelatskoi Noss, are
the only intervals wanting to complete the outline of Europe, Asia, and
America.
END OF THE NARRATIVE.
_Summary of the Distances travelled by the Expedition, from its Landing
in America, until its Embarkation._
_Statute Miles._
Distance travelled in 1825, as given in page 60 5,803
Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kendall's excursion on the ice to
the eastern parts of Bear Lake, in the Spring of 1826 359
Distance travelled by the Western Party in 1826
(given in p. 235.) 2,048
Distance travelled by the Eastern Party in 1826, after
its separation from the Western Party 1,455
Return from Fort Franklin to New York 4,000
Captain Back and Lieutenant Kendall's journey to York
Factory, after quitting Captain Franklin's route 520
------
Distance travelled by the Expedition in going and returning,
including the excursions of detached parties 14,185
------
Number of miles surveyed and laid down in the maps, but not
all included under the head of discoveries, because the
routes have been traversed by Traders 5,000
FOOTNOTES:
[15] Notwithstanding the severity of the weather, we had great
difficulty in causing these animals to depart from their usual custom of
sleeping in the snow, and in inducing them to occupy the warm houses
which were built for them.
[16] I have pleasure in mentioning that, by permission of Government,
the pay which was due to Augustus and Ooligbuck, has been delivered to
the Directors of the Hudson's Bay Company, who have undertaken to
distribute it to them annually, in the way suited to their wants.
[17] I am happy to add, that those men who had been in His Majesty's
service before the present Expedition, have been rewarded by promotion.
[18] See page 388.
[19] See Dr. Richardson's opinion in favour of this route, p. 218.
APPENDIX.
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL NOTICES, BY JOHN RICHARDSON, M.D., F.R.S.,
&c. SURGEON AND NATURALIST TO THE EXPEDITION.
[_Read before the Geological Society._]
A very limited portion of my time could be allotted to geological
inquiries. For eight months in the year the ground in the northern parts
of America is covered with snow; and during the short summer, the
prosecution of the main object of the expedition rendered the slightest
delay in our journey unadvisable. The few hours that could be stolen
from the necessary halts, for rest and refreshment, were principally
occupied in the collection of objects for the illustration of botany
and zoology. It is evident, that an account of the rock formations,
drawn up under such circumstances, cannot be otherwise than very
imperfect; but I have been led to publish it from the belief that, in
the absence of more precise information, even the slightest notice of
the rocks of the extreme northern parts of the American continent would
be useful to those employed in developing the structure of the crust of
the earth; the more especially, as it is not probable that the same
tract of country will soon be trod by an expert geologist. The specimens
of rocks I obtained have been deposited in the Museum of the Geological
Society, and are referred to in the ensuing pages by the numbers affixed
to them. The notices are arranged nearly in the order of the route of
the expedition, commencing with Great Bear Lake, where our winter
quarters were situated.
GREAT BEAR LAKE.
Great Bear Lake is an extensive sheet of water, of a very irregular
shape, being formed by the union of five arms or bays in a common
centre. The greatest diameter of the lake, measuring about one hundred
and fifty geographical miles, runs from the bottom of Dease Bay, which
receives the principal feeding stream, to the bottom of Keith Bay, from
whence the Bear Lake River issues, and has a direction from N.E. to S.W.
The transverse diameter has a direction from N.W. by W. to S.E. by E.,
through Smith and M'Tavish Bays, and is upwards of one hundred and
twenty miles in length. M'Vicar Bay, the fifth arm of the lake, is
narrower than the others, and being a little curved at its mouth,
appears less connected with the main body of water. The light
bluish-coloured water of Great Bear Lake is every where transparent, and
is particularly clear near some primitive mountains, which exist in
M'Tavish Bay. A piece of white rag, let down there, did not disappear
until it descended fifteen fathoms. The depth of water, in the centre of
the lake was not ascertained; but it is known to be very considerable.
Near the shore, in M'Tavish Bay, forty-five fathoms of line did not
reach the bottom. Owing to the barometers supplied to the expedition
having been broken in an early period of its progress, the height of the
surface of Bear Lake above the Arctic Sea could not be ascertained; but
it is, probably, short of two hundred feet.[20] If this supposition
comes near the truth, the bottom of M'Tavish Bay is below the level of
the sea, and towards the centre of the basin of the lake the depression
is probably still greater. The great lakes, Huron, Michigan, and
Superior, which discharge their waters into the St. Lawrence, are
reported to sink three hundred feet below the level of the ocean; and
the Lake of the Mountains, or Chipewyan Lake and Great Slave Lake,[21]
through which the Mackenzie flows, have, it is highly probable, some
portions of their beds below the sea level.
In the autumn of 1825, I coasted the western and northern shores of the
Great Bear Lake; and in the spring of 1826, travelled on the ice along
its eastern and southern arms, leaving no part of its shores unexamined
on these two surveys, except the north side of M'Tavish Bay. I did not,
however, on these occasions, make excursions inland.
PRIMITIVE ROCKS.--GREAT BEAR LAKE.
At the south-east corner of M'Tavish Bay, primitive rocks form a hilly
range which, at the distance of a mile or two from the shore, attains
an elevation of eight hundred or one thousand feet. The steep face of
the range forms the shore of the lake for fifteen miles, and perhaps
further, on a direction from N.W. by W. to S.E. by E., and is prolonged
on the latter bearing, at the back of the lower country lying towards
Point Leith. The general form of the hills is obtuse-conical, in some
instances approaching to dome-shaped. None of them rise much above the
others, and the vallies between them are seldom wide or deep. At a
distance, some of the masses of rock appear round-backed; and in certain
points of view, the crest of the ridge seems to consist of mammillary
peaks. On a nearer approach, the individual hills are found to be
composed of rounded eminences, having summits, generally, of an oblong
form, and consisting of smooth, naked rock. Small mural precipices are
frequent, and many detached blocks of stone lie beneath them. Between
the eminences, there are level spots destitute of vegetation, and
covered with small stones or gravel not much worn. A considerable
portion of the gravel is granite or quartz, the debris, perhaps, of the
rocks, of which the hills consist; it contains also some pieces of
slate, and not a few of quartzose sandstone, neither of which I observed
_in situ_. In the course of a walk of two miles over these hills, the
only rock I observed was granite, verging in a few places towards
gneiss, and generally whitish, with black mica. Sometimes the felspar is
brownish-red, and the rock not unfrequently contains disseminated
augite? The weathered surface of the stone was every where of a
brick-red colour. In many spots the rocks split into such thin slaty
looking tables that they have the appearance of being stratified. The
slaty masses are, generally, vertical; but in one hill they were
observed dipping 80 degrees to the south-east. The direction of the
tabular masses is mostly across the oblong summits of the hills. The
appearances of stratification were not observed to extend through a
whole hill, and seemed, in fact, to be confined to the more decomposable
granites; but the naked rocks are every where traversed by smooth
fissures. The blocks, which lie under the cliffs, have sometimes a
tabular form, but more generally come nearer to a cube or rhomboid, and
present one or two very even faces. Few veins were noticed. In the more
sheltered vallies, some clumps of white or black spruce trees occur; but
the hills are barren.
The point of land which lies between M'Tavish and M'Vicar Bays has low
shores; but five or six miles inland, an even-backed ridge rises
gradually to the height of three or four hundred feet, and abuts
obliquely against the primitive hills. I did not visit this ridge, and
the snow prevented me from seeing any flat beds of rocks, if such exist
on the shore. On one point, however, near the north end of Dease Bay,
many large angular blocks of whitish dolomite were piled up, and I have
little doubt of the rock existing _in situ_ in that immediate
neighbourhood.
M'Tavish Bay is forty miles long, and twenty wide, and its depth of
water, near the eastern shore, exceeds forty-five fathoms. Some shoals
of boulders skirt the coast near Point Leith. M'Vicar Bay is about
seventy miles long, and from eight to twelve wide; and at the "fishery,"
in a narrow part, not far from its bottom, its depth of water, two miles
from the shore, is twelve fathoms. Dease Bay is equal to M'Tavish Bay in
extent, and opens to the S.W. into the body of the lake. The high lands
at the N.E. end, or bottom of this bay, have an even outline, and appear
to attain an elevation of eight or nine hundred feet, at the distance of
six or seven miles from the shore. Near its east side lie the lofty
islands of Narrakazzae which rise seven hundred feet above the lake.
Dease River, the principal feeder of the lake, falls into the bottom of
Dease Bay. It is two hundred yards wide, and from one to three fathoms
deep near its mouth. A few miles up this river a formation of soft red
sandstone occurs, which will be noticed hereafter.
LIMESTONE.--GREAT BEAR LAKE.
[Sidenote: 228*] At the mouth of Dease river there are hills five or six
hundred feet high, composed principally, or entirely, of dolomite in
horizontal strata. Some of the beds consist of a thick-slaty,
fine-grained dolomite, containing dispersed scales of mica, which is
most abundant on the surfaces of the slates. [Sidenote: 228] Most of the
beds, however, consist of a thin-slaty, dull, purplish dolomite,
traversed by veins of calc-spar. The structure of this rock is compact,
approaching to fine granular; and some of the beds have what quarry-men
term "clay-facings," that is, they are encrusted with a thin film of
indurated clay.
Greenstone slate? occurs in horizontal beds on the north shore, eight or
nine miles to the westward of Dease River: and at Limestone Point,[22]
about twenty miles from the river, a small range of hills terminates on
the borders of the lake, in shelving, broken cliffs, about two hundred
feet high. These cliffs consist chiefly of nearly compact light-coloured
dolomite, interstratified with greenstone, and a brownish-red limestone,
such as occurs in the hills at the mouth of the Dease River. In contact
with the greenstone, there is a bed of talcose limestone, having a
curved, slaty structure; most of the beds of dolomite are hard, and pass
into chert.
ALUMINOUS SHALE.--GREAT BEAR LAKE.
The north shore of Bear Lake is low, and is skirted by many shoals,
formed by boulders of limestone. No rocks, _in situ_, are exposed
between Limestone Point and the Scented Grass Hill, a remarkable
promontory, which separates Smith and Keith bays. Its height above the
lake is betwixt eight and nine hundred feet, and in form and altitude it
corresponds with the Great Bear Mountain, which, lying opposite to it,
separates M'Vicar and Keith bays. I did not ascend either of these
hills; but cliffs, corresponding in character to those of the aluminous
shale-banks at Whitby, flank their bases; and the same formation
probably extends along the north shore of Keith Bay, and some way down
Bear Lake River. The ground skirting the Scented Grass and Great Bear
Mountains is much broken, and consists of small, rounded and steep
eminences, separated by narrow vallies and small lakes. Several shelving
cliffs, about one hundred feet high, and some miles in extent are washed
by Bear Lake. [Sidenote: 251] They consist of slate-clay and shale, more
or less bituminous, and the dip of the strata is in several places to
the N.W. by N. [Sidenotes: 244, 246, 247] At the foot of the Scented
Grass Hill a rivulet has made a section to the depth of one hundred
feet, and here the shaly beds are interstratified with thin layers of
blackish-brown, earthy-looking swinestone, containing selenite and
pyrites. Globular concretions of the same stone, and of a poor clay
iron-stone, also occur in beds in the shale. [Sidenotes: 249, 250, 248]
The surfaces of the slates were covered with an efflorescence of alum
and sulphur. Many crystals of sulphate of iron lie at the bottom of the
cliff, and several layers of plumose alum, half an inch thick, occur in
the strata. At the base of Great Bear Mountain, the bituminous shale is
interstratified with slate-clay, and I found imbedded in the former a
single piece of brown coal, in which the fibrous structure of wood is
apparent. Sections of slate-clay banks, and more rarely of bituminous
shale, occur in several places on the north shore of Keith Bay. In one
place, about seven or eight miles from Bear Lake River, a bed of plastic
and bituminous clay occurs, and in another, near Fort Franklin, there is
a deposit of an earthy coal, which possesses the characters of _black
chalk_.
It is probable that a magnesian limestone underlies this formation of
bituminous shale. I have already mentioned the beds of dolomite, which
are exposed on the north side of Bear Lake, and similar beds occur to
the southward of the Great Bear Mountain, forming cliffs on the shores
of M'Vicar Bay. At Manito Point, on the west side of the isthmus that
connects Great Bear Mountain to the main shore, a low ridge of limestone
rocks terminates on the borders of the lake, forming some bold cliffs
and a remarkable cave. The stone has a gray colour and bituminous smell,
and contains much interspersed calc-spar. The strata dip to the
north-west.
VICINITY OF FORT FRANKLIN, GREAT BEAR LAKE.
Fort Franklin stands on the northern shore of Keith Bay, about four
miles from Bear Lake River, upon a small terrace, which is elevated
twenty-five or thirty feet above the lake. The bay, contracting towards
the river, is about four miles wide opposite to the fort, and the depth
of water there does not exceed four fathoms. Farther from the river, the
east and west shores of Keith Bay recede to the distance of thirty miles
from each other, and the depth of water in the centre of the channel
greatly increases. The bottom of this bay, wherever it could be
distinguished, was observed to be sandy, and thickly strewed with round
boulders[23] of various primitive rocks of large size, which were
particularly abundant near the river, and with large square blocks of
limestone, most plentiful near the cape formed by the Scented Grass
Hill. In the small bay between the fort and the river, shoals are formed
by accumulations of boulders, and the shores are thickly strewed with
them. [Sidenote: 261 to 308] Many of these travelled blocks consist of
flesh-red granite, having only a small quantity of black mica, exactly
resembling the primitive rocks seen in M'Tavish Bay, but noticed no
where else near the lake. Boulders of the same description occur in
shoals at the mouth of M'Tavish Bay, and on the shores which skirt the
Scented Grass Hill which faces that bay, to all which places they may
have been brought from the parent rock, by a current flowing from the
east. On the northern shore of Bear Lake the great majority of the
boulders consists of limestone. [Sidenote: 266 282] Two varieties of
granite, which occur amongst the boulders, were recognised as being
abundant rocks at Fort Enterprise, which is situated about one hundred
and seventy miles south-east from M'Tavish Bay. Some of the boulders
were of a peculiar-looking porphyry exactly resembling that which occurs
in the height of land betwixt the Coppermine River and Dease Bay;
several of sandstone and conglomerate, which probably came from the same
quarter; of greenstone, perhaps, from the Copper Mountains, and of
limestone from the northern shores of the lake, and from the isthmus of
the Great Bear Mountain; all these places lying to the eastward or
north-east.
The soil in the immediate vicinity of Fort Franklin is sandy, or
gravelly, and covers, to the depth of one or two feet, a bed of clay of
unknown thickness. Gravel taken from a spot thirty feet above the
present high-water level of the lake, and out of the reach of any stream
or torrent, contained rounded pebbles of granite, of greenstone, of
quartz rock, of lydian stone, and of various sandstones, of which some
were spotted, and others presented zones of different colours. These
sandstones form a considerable portion of the gravel.[24]
The clay which lies under the soil is of a bluish-gray colour, and is
plastic but not very tenacious. It is more or less mixed with gravel.
During the greater part of the year it is firmly frozen; the thaw in the
two seasons we remained there never penetrating more than twenty-one
inches from the surface of the earth. In spots where the sandy soil is
wanting, the clay is covered a foot deep, or more, by mosses, mostly
_bryum palustre_, and some marsh _hypna_ and _dicrana_, in a living
state, for they seem to be converted very slowly into peat in this
climate.
The ground rises gradually behind the fort, until it attains, at the
distance of half a mile from the lake, the height of two hundred feet,
forming, when viewed from the southward, an even ridge, running nearly
east and west--which ridge is, in fact, the high bank of the lake, as it
corresponds in height with the summit level of the banks of Bear Lake
River, and of the southern shore of Keith Bay. The country extending to
the northward, from the top of the bank, is nearly level, or has a very
gentle ascent for about five miles, when a more abrupt ridge rises to
perhaps three hundred or four hundred feet above the lake. The view from
the summit of this second eminence is very extensive, the whole country
as far as the eye can reach appearing to be a level, from which several
narrow precipitous ridges of limestone arise. But, although the country
around these ridges appears from a distance to be level, or very
slightly undulated, yet it abounds in small eminences and steep-sided
vallies of various shapes, some being rounded and basin-shaped, others
long and narrow. Lakes and swamps are here so numerous, that the
country, for at least sixty miles to the northward, is impassable in
summer, even to the natives. There are many mounds of sand and gravel,
and fragments of sandstone are frequent; but having travelled in this
direction only in winter, when the ground was covered to the depth of
upwards of three feet with snow, I had not an opportunity of examining
its geological structure. White spruces cover the drier spots; larches,
black spruces, and willows abound in moist places; the sandy hillocks
are clothed with aspens, and the sides of the vallies support some canoe
birches, with a thick undergrowth of dwarf birches, alders, and
rose-bushes. The eminence from whence the view just described was
obtained, appears like a ridge only in approaching it from the lake, for
it rises very little above the general level of the country behind it.
It has a direction from N.W. by N. to S.E. by S., and terminates about
eight miles to the eastward of the fort, in a small bluff point on the
shores of the lake and there the strata consist of slate-clay slightly
bituminous. The banks immediately behind the fort also exhibit, in their
ravines, a bluish slate-clay.
The land on the south side, or bottom, of Keith Bay, presents a nearly
similar aspect to that just described, rising, on the borders of the
lake, to the height of one hundred and fifty feet, and then running back
to a great distance nearly level. It may be characterized as full of
hollows, narrow vallies, ravines, and lakes; but it is not hilly,
although it is traversed by ridges of limestone, which rise like walls
through the flat country. The nearest of these ridges terminates on the
borders of the lake at the _Manito Point_, (noticed in page vii.) It may
be proper to remark here, that, in addition to the limestone ridges
visible from Fort Franklin, or from the heights behind it, the summit of
Clark Hill, bearing south, and forming part of a ridge about fifty miles
distant, was distinctly seen. This hill lies behind Old Fort Norman on
the Mackenzie, and has more the outline of a granitic rock, although
some of the peaks which skirt it have the serrated crests which the
limestone ridges in this quarter show. It was guessed to be 1500 feet
high above the Mackenzie.
This sketch of the general features of the country about Fort Franklin
being premised, the ensuing geological notices follow in the order of
the route of the Expedition.
BEAR LAKE RIVER--SANDSTONE, LIMESTONE.
Bear Lake River is about seventy miles long, from its origin in the lake
till it falls into the Mackenzie, and throughout its whole length, its
breadth is never less than one hundred and fifty yards, except at the
_Rapid_, a remarkable place, about the middle of its course. It is from
one to three fathoms deep, and very rapid, its velocity being estimated
at six miles in the hour. Its waters are clear as they issue from the
lake, but several branches of considerable size bring down muddy water,
particularly one which flows from the north, and falls in below the
rapid.
Above the rapid, the valley of the river is very narrow, the banks every
where sloping steeply from the level of the country. Their summit line,
which is nearly straight, is about one hundred and fifty feet above the
bed of the river. In some places they have an even face elevated at an
angle of about forty-five degrees, and they are not unfrequently cut by
ravines into pretty regular figures, resembling hay-ricks, or the
parapet of a fort, the ravines representing the embrasures. Sections
made by the river presented generally sand or clay; the sand probably
proceeding from the disintegration of a friable, gray sandstone, which
showed itself occasionally in a more solid form. The rapidity of our
voyage, however, afforded us little opportunity of searching for the
solid strata which are generally hid by the debris of the bank. About
twelve miles above the rapid, a small-grained, friable sandstone, of a
yellowish gray colour, and irregular earthy fracture, is associated with
beds of bluish-gray slate-clay. These beds consist of concretions of
various sizes and irregular shapes, but which may be said to approach in
general to a depressed orbicular form; their surfaces are coloured
purplish-brown by iron, and studded with crystals of sulphate of lime.
This slate-clay contains many small round grains of quartz, and is
exactly similar to that which occurs at the rapid, and which will be
afterwards noticed. In other places the banks are covered by the debris
of a slate-clay slightly bituminous, resembling wacke in its mode of
disintegrating.
The _Rapid_ is caused by the river struggling through a chasm bounded by
two perpendicular walls of sandstone, over an uneven bed of the same
material. On escaping from this narrow passage, it winds round the end
of a lofty cliff of limestone, which forms part of a ridge that is
continued through the country on both sides of the river.
Viewed from the summit of this ridge, which rises about eight hundred
feet above the river, the country towards Bear Lake appears level. The
view down the river presents also a plain country, bounded on the
Mackenzie by another limestone ridge, which, unless the eye was deceived
by the distance, gradually inclined to the one at the rapid, and
appeared, by joining it to the northward, to form a great basin. These
ridges are also prolonged to the southward. The plain is covered with
wood, intersected by chains of lakes, and seemed to lie rather below the
summit level of the banks of Bear Lake River. It is only comparatively,
that the country deserves the name of plain, for its surface is much
varied by depressions, ravines, and small eminences, that do not,
however, destroy the general level appearance when seen from a distance.
The view from the hill is terminated, to the westward, by the distant
chain of the Rocky Mountains, running nearly N.W. by N. A little below
the rapid, a small stream from the southward flows into the Bear Lake
River, near whose sources the Indians procure an excellent common salt,
which is deposited from the springs by spontaneous evaporation.
The walls of the rapid are about three miles long, and 120 feet high.
[Sidenote: 25] They are composed of horizontal beds, the lower of which
consist of an earthy-looking stone, intermediate between slate-clay and
sandstone, having interiorly a dull yellowish-gray colour. Concretions,
with smooth surfaces, about the thickness of a swan's quill, pass
perpendicularly through the beds like pins, are prolonged beyond the
partings, and bear some resemblance to portions of the roots or branches
of a tree. The seam surfaces are very uneven. [Sidenote: 18] These beds
are parted by thin, slaty layers, of a stone similar in appearance, but
rather harder, and containing many interspersed scales of mica, and also
some minute portions of carbonaceous matter in the form of lignite.
[Sidenotes: 19, 1827] The thin layers contain impressions of ferns, and
from the debris at the bottom of the cliff I gathered impressions of the
bark of a tree (lepidodendron) and some ammonites in a brown iron-shot
sandstone.[25] [Sidenote: 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28] The upper
beds are composed of a fine grained, quartzose, gray sandstone, having
an earthy basis, and occasionally interspersed carbonaceous matter. Some
of the beds are a foot and a half thick, and have sufficient tenacity to
be fitted for making grindstones; most of the sandstone is, however,
rather friable. Near the summit there is interposed a bed of
fine-grained dolomite, and a friable sandstone, which forms the crest of
the cliff, and exhibits in its weathering battlement-shaped projections
and pinnacles. [Sidenote: 29] Covering this sandstone, but not quite to
the margin of the cliff, there is a layer of slaty limestone, having a
bluish or blackish-gray colour, a dull fracture, and rather compact
structure. [Sidenote: 30] In the lower beds of the cliff there are some
globular and disk-shaped concretions, of an indurated iron-shot
slate-clay, or poor clay-iron-stone, containing pyrites. They vary in
magnitude from six inches to a foot and a half in diameter, and appear
to be formed of concentric layers, which are rendered apparent by the
weathering of the stone. The sandstones and shales of the rapid have a
strong resemblance in appearance to those of the coal measures; but
pitch-coal was not detected at this place. Several distinct concretions
of indurated slate-clay, assuming the appearance termed _cone in cone_,
were picked up among the boulders on the banks of Bear Lake River, some
way below the rapid, but they were not traced to their parent beds. They
effervesce with acids.
Between the walls of the rapid and the limestone ridge there is a piece
of meadow-ground, having a soft, clayey soil, in which, near the base of
the hill, a small rivulet flows to join the river. The bed of this
rivulet presents accumulations of boulders of large size, arranged so as
to form two terraces, the upper of which is considerably above the
highest level either of the rivulet, or of Bear Lake River. The boulders
consist of varieties of granite, gneiss, mica-slate with garnets,
greenstone and porphyry. [Sidenote: 50] One of the porphyries is a
beautiful stone, composed of hyacinth-red felspar, and irregular
crystals of milky quartz, with a few specks of a dark green mineral,
and very much resembles a rock which is not uncommon in the gneiss
districts about Fort Enterprize. [Sidenotes: 45, 47, 50, 51, 49] Many of
the boulders consist of conglomerates and sandstones that strongly
resemble those of the old red sandstone formation, which forms the
height of land between Dease Bay and Coppermine rivers. Also some flinty
slates, mixed, in thin layers, with compact, yellowish limestone, and
some pebbles of jasper interleaved with flinty slate.
The limestone ridge below the rapid stands on a narrow base, whose
transverse diameter does not exceed a quarter of a mile. Its summits are
generally conical, but very rugged and craggy; the highest peak I had an
opportunity of visiting is about a mile from Bear Lake River, and it has
been already stated to be estimated at eight hundred feet above that
stream, or nine hundred and fifty above the sea. The general direction
of the ridge is from S.E. by S. to N.W. by N., or nearly parallel to the
great Rocky Mountain chain, and to the smaller ridges betwixt it and
that chain. Its prolongation through the flat surrounding strata, to the
southward of Bear Lake River, can be traced for at least forty miles,
and it is visible at nearly an equal distance, as it runs through the
still more level country to the northward; but here, as has been already
said, it appears to incline towards the similar ridge which is cut by
the Mackenzie, at the mouth of the Bear Lake River, and is about
twenty-five miles to the W.S.W., in a direct line. That part of the
ridge which I had an opportunity of visiting, consisted entirely of
limestone, generally in thick beds. Its stratification was not very
evident, and in my very cursory examination the general dip was not
clearly ascertained. A precipitous cliff, four hundred feet high, facing
the S.E., and washed by the Bear Lake River, presents strata, inclined
to the S.W. at an angle of 45 degrees, which may be perhaps considered
as the general dip; for the ridge on that side slopes down to the
surrounding country at an angle of about 30 degrees or 40 degrees, while
on the N.E. side it presents lofty precipices formed by the cropping out
of the strata. [Sidenote: 39, 34] Many of the beds in this hill
consisted of a blackish-gray fine grained limestone, intersected by
veins of calc-spar; [Sidenotes: 40; 35, 36; 42, 43, 44] but several
layers of gray and dark coloured dolomites, and some of a yellowish-gray
_rauchwacke_, were interstratified with them, and the upper parts of the
precipitous cliff, [Sidenote: 35, 36] and also of the highest peak,
consisted of a calcareous breccia, containing rounded pieces of brown
limestone, and angular fragments of chert; and the faces of some
cliffs, on the N.E. side of the hill, were incrusted with a fine
crystalline gypsum to the depth of from one to two feet.[26]
The banks of Bear Lake River below the rapid have a more gentle
declivity than those above it, and they occasionally recede from the
stream, so as to leave a grassy slope varying from a few yards to half a
mile in breadth. The sections of these banks by torrents present only
sand or clay; and the hollows of the ravines are lined with boulders
principally of primitive rocks. No stone was observed _in situ_ from the
rapid until we came to the junction of the river with the Mackenzie.
The Bear Lake River flows into the Mackenzie at a right angle, and on
its north bank, at its mouth, there is a hill, which has been already
noticed as forming part of a ridge visible from the one at the rapid,
with which it probably unites to form a great basin. These two hills
seem to belong to the same formation. [Sidenote: 61, 62, 60] The body of
the hill consists of highly-inclined beds of blackish-gray limestone,
with sparry veins, and of brownish-gray dolomite, which cannot be
distinguished in hand specimens from that of the hill at the rapid. The
superior beds are formed of a calcareous breccia.[27] [Sidenote: 57,
58, 59, 63, 64, 65] Associated with these strata, however, there are
beds of limestone, highly charged with bitumen; and at the base of the
hill there are beds of bituminous shale, some of which effervesce with
acids, whilst others approach in hardness, and other characters, to
flinty slate. These shaly beds were seen by Captain Franklin and Mr.
Kendall in autumn 1825, and they also saw, at that time, some
sulphureous springs and streams of mineral pitch issuing from the lower
parts of the limestone strata: but the whole of them were hid by the
height of the waters of the Mackenzie in the spring of 1826.[28]
[Sidenote: 69, 66, 67, 68] The same cause prevented me from seeing some
beds of lignite and sandstone, at the same place, of which Captain
Franklin obtained specimens.
LIGNITE FORMATION.--MACKENZIE'S RIVER.
Having noticed the general features of this portion of the river, I have
next to state, that the formation constituting its banks may be
characterized as consisting of wood-coal in various states, alternating
with beds of pipe-clay, potter's clay, which is sometimes bituminous,
slate-clay, gravel, sand, and friable sandstones, and occasionally with
porcelain earth. The strata are generally horizontal, and as many as
four beds of lignite are exposed in some parts, the upper of which are
above the level of the highest river-floods of the present day.
The _lignite_, when recently detached from the beds, is pretty compact,
but soon splits into rhomboidal pieces, which again separate into slates
more or less fine. It burns with a very fetid smell, somewhat resembling
that of phosphorus, with little smoke or flame, leaving a brownish-red
ash, not one-tenth of the original bulk of the coal. The blacksmith
found it unfit for welding iron when used alone, but it answered when
mixed with charcoal, although the stench it created was a great
annoyance. [Sidenote: 48] Different beds, and even different parts of
the same bed, presented specimens of the fibrous brown-coal, earth-coal,
conchoidal brown-coal, and trapezoidal brown-coal of Jameson. Some of
the pieces have the external appearance of compact bitumen, but they
generally exhibit, in the cross fracture, the fibrous structure of wood
in concentric layers, apparently much compressed. Other specimens have a
strong external resemblance to charcoal in structure, colour, and
lustre. A frequent form of the lignite is that of slate, of a dull,
brownish-black colour, but yielding a shining streak. The slate is
composed of fragments, resembling charred wood, united together by a
paste of more comminuted woody matter, mixed, perhaps, with a small
portion of clay. In the paste there are some transparent crystals of
sulphate of lime, and occasionally some minute portions of a substance
like resin. These shaly beds bear a strong resemblance to peat, not only
in structure but also in the mode of burning, and in the light whitish
ashes which are left. The external shape of stems or branches of trees,
is best preserved in some fragments impregnated with slate-clay, and
occasionally with siliceous matter, which occur imbedded in the coal.
The bark of these pieces has been converted into lignite. Some of them
exhibit knots, such as occur where a branch has decayed, and others
represent the twists and contortions of wood of stunted growth. The
lignite is generally penetrated by fibrous roots, probably
_rhizomorpha_, which insinuate their ramifications into every crevice.
The beds of lignite appear to take fire spontaneously when exposed to
the atmosphere. They were burning when Sir Alexander Mackenzie passed
down the river in 1789, and have been on fire, in some part or other of
the formation, ever since. In consequence of the destruction of the
coal, large slips of the bank take place, and it is only where the
debris has been washed away by the river that good sections are visible.
The beds were on fire when we visited them, and the burnt clays,
vitrified sand, agglutinated gravel, &c. gave many spots the appearance
of an old brick-field.
[Sidenote: 81] The _gravel_ interstratified with the lignite, consists
of smooth pebbles of Lydian stone, of flinty slate, of white quartz, of
quartzose sandstone, and conglomerate, like the sandstones and
conglomerates of the old red sandstone formation, of claystone, and of
slate-clay, varying in size from a pea to that of an orange. The gravel
is often intermixed with a little clay, which gives the bed sufficient
tenacity to form cliffs, but does not prevent the pebbles from
separating, in the attempt to break off hand specimens. It is seamed by
thin layers of fine sand: beds of sandstone are of occasional
occurrence.
_Potter's clay_ occurs in thick beds, has generally a gray or brown
colour, and passes, in some places, into a highly bituminous thick-slaty
clay, penetrated by ramifications of carbonaceous matter resembling the
roots of vegetables.
The _pipe-clay_ is deserving of particular notice. It is found in beds
from six inches to a foot thick, and mostly in contact with the lignite.
It has commonly a yellowish-white colour, but in some places its hue is
light lake-red. The natives use it as an article of food in times of
scarcity and it is said to have sustained life for a considerable time.
It is termed _white mud_ by the traders, who whitewash their houses with
it. It occurs also in lignite deposits on the upper branches of the
Saskatchewan, and is associated with bituminous shale on the coast of
the Arctic Sea. Mr. Nuttall mentions a similar substance, under the name
of pink-clay, as being found in the lignite deposits on the Arkansa.[29]
The _porcelain earth_ was observed only at one place where the beds were
highly inclined, and there it appeared to replace the sandstones of
other parts of the deposit. It has a whitish colour, and the appearance,
at first sight, of chalk; but some of its beds, from the quantity of
carbonaceous matter interspersed through them, having a grayish hue. Its
beds are from two to three yards thick.
In a note[30] I have mentioned the most remarkable sections of this
formation which occur on the banks of the Mackenzie. The depth of the
formation was not ascertained, but the sections will show the thickness
of the beds which were exposed. The height above the sea of the summit
of the banks it forms on the Mackenzie, was estimated to be from two
hundred and fifty to three hundred feet.
NOTICES OF OTHER LIGNITE FORMATIONS.
Similar formations of lignite occur near the foot of the Rocky Mountain
range farther to the southward; but I have not, after many inquiries,
heard of any traces of them in the eastern parts of the Hudson's Bay
lands. Sir Alexander Mackenzie, after describing the general course of
the Rocky Mountains, says that "along their eastern edge, there occurs a
narrow strip of marshy, boggy, and uneven ground, which produces coal
and bitumen;" and that "he saw these on the banks of the Mackenzie in
lat. 66 degrees, and, in his second journey, on the Peace River, in lat.
56 degrees and 146 degrees W. long.;" and further, that "the same was
observed by Mr. Fidler, on the south branch of the Saskatchewan, in lat.
52 degrees long. 112-1/2 degrees W." Mr. Alexander Stewart, an
intelligent chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and well
acquainted with those countries, informs me that there are beds of coal
on fire, on the Smoking River, or east branch of the Peace River, and on
the upper parts of the _Riviere la biche_, or Elk River; and that coal,
although not on fire, occurs at Lesser Slave Lake, on a line with the
other two localities. Mr. Small, a clerk to the Hudson's Bay Company,
likewise acquaints me, that coal occurs at Edmonton, on the north branch
of the Saskatchewan, in beds, sometimes seven or eight feet thick. Most
of the coal is thin-slaty; but some beds yield shining, thick lumps,
which break, as he expresses it, like Spanish liquorice. It lies over
beds of bluish-gray sandstone, and is associated with a white clay,
which froths in water and adheres to the fingers.
Mr. Drummond brought specimens from the spot which Mr. Small alludes to
and remarks, that the lignite occurs in beds from six inches to two feet
thick, separated by clay and sandstones. [Sidenote: 1051, 1052, 1053]
His specimens of the lignite are precisely similar to the slaty and
conchoidal varieties, which occur at the mouth of the Bear Lake River;
[Sidenote: 1055] and there is an equal resemblance betwixt the
sandstones from the two places. [Sidenote: 1053] The slaty beds of
lignite, at Edmonton, pass into a thin, slaty, friable sandstone, much
impregnated by carbonaceous matter, and containing pieces of fibrous
lignite. [Sidenote: 1056, 1062] In the neighbourhood of the lignite
there are some beds of rather indurated, but highly bituminous shale,
and the clayey banks contain clay-iron stones, in form of septaria. Mr.
Drummond likewise found beds of a beautiful bituminous coal, which
Professor Buckland, from its peculiar fracture, considers to be tertiary
pitch-coal. [Sidenote: 1058, 1059, 1060] The banks of the Saskatchewan,
near the same place, exhibit beds of a very compact stone, having a
brown colour, and inclosing many fragments of bituminous limestone and
some organic remains; likewise beds of a somewhat similar stone, but
full of drusy cavities, and more resembling a recent calcareous tufa. I
could not learn how far these beds were connected with the lignite
deposit.
Captain Franklin[31] saw beds of lignite and tertiary pitch-coal at
Garry's Island, off the mouth of the Mackenzie, and there is an
extensive deposit of it near the Babbage River, on the coast of the
Arctic Sea, opposite to the termination of the Richardson chain of the
Rocky Mountains.
MACKENZIE RIVER FROM SLAVE LAKE TO THE BASE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
Having now described the strata in Bear Lake River, together with the
exposed beds of the lignite at its mouth, as far as opportunities of
observation enable me, and also added a slight account of similar
formations which occupy a like situation at the foot of the Rocky
Mountain range, were I to adapt the order of my notices strictly to the
route of the expedition, I should next describe the banks of the
Mackenzie from the junction of the Bear Lake River downwards to the
Arctic Sea. It seems, however, more advisable to commence at the origin
of the Mackenzie, in Great Slave Lake, and give as connected a view as I
can of the principal geological features of that great river.
The west end of Slave Lake is bounded by horizontal strata of a
limestone, whose characters shall be afterwards given in detail; and I
have merely to remark, at present, that it forms flat shores, which are
skirted by shoals of boulders of limestone, and of primitive rocks. Much
drift timber is accumulated in the small bays at this end of the lake,
which, in process of time, is converted into a substance like peat. A
chain of islands extends obliquely across the lake at the origin of the
river, or where the current is first felt; and the depth of the water
there is less than six feet. Below this, there is a dilatation termed
the _first little lake_, and the river afterwards contracts to less than
a mile in breadth; forming in one place, when the water is low, a strong
rapid. A second dilatation, about twenty-five miles below the first, is
termed the _second little lake_. The shores throughout this distance are
generally flat and covered with boulders of limestone, compact felspar,
granite, gneiss, and sienite, and there are many of these stones
imbedded in a tenacious clay, which forms the beach. A ridge, having an
even outline, and apparently of small elevation, commences behind Stony
Point, in Slave Lake, some distance inland, and, running nearly parallel
to the river, disappears about Fishing River, a stream which joins the
Mackenzie, below the Second Little Lake. The Horn Mountains, a ridge of
hills, of considerably greater elevation, and having a more varied
outline than that on the south shore, are first visible on the north
side of the Second Little Lake, and continue in sight nearly as far as
the junction of the "River of the Mountains," or "Forks, of the
Mackenzie," as the traders term the union of the two rivers. [Sidenote:
120, 121] The only rocks seen _in situ_ between Slave Lake and the
Forks, were a bituminous shale of a brownish-black colour, in thin
slates, and a slate-clay of a pure yellowish-gray colour, which, as well
as the bituminous shale, forms steep banks.
ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
About twenty-five or thirty miles below the forks, the first view is
obtained of the Rocky Mountains, which there appear to consist of
short-conical peaks, scarcely rising two thousand feet above the river.
Some distance lower down, the river, changing its course from W.N.W. to
N.N.E., turns sharply round the mountains, which are there disposed in
ridges, having bases from one to two miles wide, and a direction of
S.S.W. or S.W. by S. being nearly at right angles to the general course
of the great range to which they belong. The eastern sides of the ridges
present a succession of wall-sided precipices, having beneath them
shelving acclivities formed by debris, and exhibiting on their faces
regular lines of stratification. The western sides of the ridges are of
more easy ascent. The vallies which separate these ridges and open
successively to the river, are narrow, with pretty level bottoms, but
very steep sides well clothed with trees. In the first ridge, the strata
seemed to dip to the northward at an angle of 35 degrees. In some of the
others they were horizontal, or had a southerly dip. The third ridge
presents, when viewed from the westward, a magnificent precipice,
seemingly about one thousand two hundred feet high, and which extends
for at least fifteen miles. After passing this ridge, the river
inclines to the eastward, and the forms of the hills are less distinctly
seen.
As I could not visit the Rocky Mountains, I know nothing of their
structure except from report. An interpreter in the Hudson's Bay
Company's service, who had travelled over them, informed me that there
are fourteen or fifteen ridges, of which the three easternmost are the
most rugged, those that succeed being broader and more rounded.
[Sidenote: 122] This man gave me a specimen of a pearl-gray semi-opal,
resembling obsidian, brought from the third or fourth ridge. The
natives, by means of fire, cause this stone to break off in thin, flat,
conchoidal fragments, with which they form arrow-heads and knives. The
thin pieces are nearly transparent on the edges. [Sidenote: 123] He also
gave me a specimen of plumbago, from the same quarter, and some specular
iron.
Mr. Macpherson, of the Hudson's Bay Company, in a letter respecting the
Rocky Mountains, near _Fort au Liard_, on the River of the Mountains, or
south branch of the Mackenzie, informs me, that "these mountains may be
traced into somewhat uniform ranges, extending north-westerly and
south-easterly, nearly parallel with the River of the Mountains, and are
in appearance confusedly scattered and broken, rising here and there
into high peaks." [Sidenote: 124, 125] This gentleman had the kindness
to send me specimens of a cherty rock, some of which, he states, were
from the third range westward from the river, and others from a spur
which projects in a southern direction from the fourth range, and rises
about six hundred feet above the adjacent valley. These specimens cannot
be distinguished from those of Limestone Point, on the north shore of
Great Bear Lake[32], Mounts Fitton and Conybeare, two remarkable peaks
which terminate the Eastern range of the Rocky Mountains on the shores
of the Arctic sea, were found by Captain Franklin to consist of
transition rocks, of which an account is given in the subjoined
note.[33]
Sir Alexander Mackenzie, towards the conclusion of the interesting
narrative of his voyages, says, of the Rocky Mountain range, "The last
line of division is, the immense ridge, or succession of ridges of the
stony mountains, whose northern extremity dips in the Arctic Sea in
latitude 70 degrees north, and longitude 135 degrees west, running
nearly south-east, and begins to be parallel to the coast of the Pacific
ocean from Cook's inlet, and so onwards to the Columbia. From thence it
appears to quit the coast, but still continuing with less elevation to
divide the waters of the Atlantic from those of the Pacific. In these
snow-clad mountains rises the Mississippi, if we admit the Missouri to
be its source, which flows into the Gulph of Mexico; the river Nelson
which is lost in Hudson's Bay; Mackenzie's river that discharges itself
into the North Sea, and the Columbia emptying itself into the Pacific
Ocean. The breadth of the mountains from Cook's inlet to the Columbia is
from four to eight degrees easterly." I may add, that the great rivers
mentioned by Mackenzie not only take their origin from the same range of
mountains, but almost from the same hill; the head waters of the
Columbia and Mackenzie being only about two hundred yards apart in
latitude 54-1/2 degrees. Mr. Drummond, who crossed the mountains at that
place, informs me, that the Eastern side of the range consists of
conglomerate and sandstone, to which succeed limestone hills exceedingly
barren, and afterwards clay-slate and granite.
James, the intelligent naturalist, who accompanied Major Long on his
first expedition, says of the Rocky Mountains to the southward of the
Missouri, "They rise abruptly out of the plains which lie extended at
their base on the east side, towering into peaks of great height, which
renders them visible at the distance of more than one hundred miles from
their base. They consist of ridges, knobs, and peaks, variously
disposed, among which are interspersed many broad and fertile valleys.
James's peak, one of the more elevated, was ascertained by
trigonometrical measurement to rise 8500 feet above the common level.
The rocky formations are uniformly of a primitive character, but a deep
crust of secondary rocks appears to recline on the east side of the
mountains, extending upwards from their base many hundred feet." In
another place, he says, "The woodless plain is terminated by a range of
naked and almost perpendicular rocks, visible at the distance of several
miles, and resembling a vast wall parallel to the base of the mountain.
These rocks are sandstone, and rise abruptly to an elevation of one
hundred and fifty or two hundred feet." The sandstone walls seem to
present an appearance not very dissimilar to some of the cliffs seen
from the Mackenzie.
Having thus mentioned as briefly as I could the extent of the
information I was able to collect, respecting the Rocky Mountain range,
I may remark, that a formation of primitive rocks, but little elevated
above the general level of the country, appears to run from near the
west end of Lake Superior, gradually and slightly converging towards the
Rocky Mountains, until it attains the east side of Great Bear Lake. In
lat. 50 degrees, the two ranges are nearly seven hundred miles apart,
and there, and as far as lat. 60 degrees, the space between them is
principally occupied by horizontal strata of limestone. There is also
much limestone in the narrower interval north of 60 degrees, but the
strata are more inclined, and form abrupt hills and ridges, particularly
about lat. 66 degrees, where the primitive rocks on the east of Bear
Lake are within two hundred miles of the Rocky Mountains. Sir Alexander
Mackenzie has noticed that a chain of great lakes skirts this eastern
range of primitive rocks, where they are approached by the flat
limestone strata which lie to west of them. Thus the primitive rocks
bound Great Slave Lake to the eastward of Slave River, and the flat
limestone strata occupy the country westward of that lake, as has been
already mentioned.
After this digression, which seemed necessary for the purpose of giving
a general idea of the structure of the country, I return to the
description of the banks of the Mackenzie.
MACKENZIE RIVER FROM THE FIRST SIGHT OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS TO BEAR LAKE
RIVER.
At the sharp turn of the river round the Rocky Mountains, its east bank
swells gently into a hill several feet high. Below this the banks are
broken into conical masses by ravines, and present a finely variegated
outline. A pretty high ridge, looking like a continuation of the Horn
Mountains, is visible on the east side some distance inland. Opposite to
the Big Island there is a green hill three or four hundred feet high,
which, as we descended the river, showed itself to be part of a range
that had a direction apparently to the N.N.W., and towards its northern
end became more rugged and craggy, exhibiting cliffs and rude
embrasures, at the same time increasing in height to eight hundred or
one thousand feet. The boulders on the beach change their character
considerably about this place. Farther up, the yellowish-white limestone
which occurs in Slave Lake formed a great portion of them; but here a
greenish-gray, and rather dark-coloured, compact limestone, with a flat
conchoidal fracture, replaces it. Variegated-sandstone, and some
purplish, felspathose-sandstone, or compact felspar, also occur pretty
frequently, together with slaty limestone, bituminous-shale,
lydian-stone, pitchstone-porphyry, and various sienites, granites, and
greenstones, almost all porphyritic.