THE BARREN LANDS, OR “ARCTIC PRAIRIE.”
Game, Fur-bearing Animals and Fish.
Where Millions of Caribou Roam at Large.—Actual Value of These
Immense Herds Very Great.—Can they Become Domesticated or
Replaced by the Lapland Reindeer?—The Home of the Musk-Ox and
Many Fur-Bearing Animals.—The Polar Bear.—Where the Wild Geese
Nest.—Lakes, Rivers and Sea Coasts Teeming With Fish.—The
Arctic Salmon, Trout, White Fish and Grayling.
The fish and game resources of the Barren Lands have hitherto been the
sole support of the small human population, and unquestionably they
could support an infinitely larger number of people than have hitherto
resided in the far northern wilderness. As every explorer of the region
from Hearne until the present date has had to depend primarily
practically wholly upon fish and game for sustenance while in the
interior, we know much more about the resources of the country in those
respects than any of the others. The occurrence of fish and game has
been a matter of life or death to the explorers, and naturally they have
all dwelt upon the matter in the narratives of their trips. That so many
adventurous and lengthy trips through the country have succeeded
testifies to the abundance of fish and game even in the far north of
this vast region.
The chief source of the food supply of the natives and of explorers in
the Barren Lands is the Barren Lands caribou, _Rangifer arcticus_
(Richardson). Mr. E. A. Preble of the United States Biological Survey,
in his report so often quoted in the preceding pages, says:—“This
famous animal, usually in the north called ‘deer,’ and often mentioned
in the narratives of Arctic travel, occurs more or less abundantly on
the barren grounds of the region treated of, and on the large islands to
the northward. It is the caribou, more than any other animal, which
renders human residence in this desolate region possible.
“Within this great area it is probable that there are two or more races,
perhaps distinct species, since the animals are separated by the
physiographic conditions of the country into different herds, or
aggregations of herds, which never associate with each other at any time
of the year, and which have somewhat different habits. A series of skins
and skulls will be necessary to a decision as to the number of
recognizable forms. For the present, however, all the caribou of this
region, excepting the woodland species, may without violence be
CONSIDERED AS ONE SPECIES,
for which the name _arcticus_, applied by Richardson to the animal
inhabiting the main area of the Barren Grounds between Great Bear lake
and Hudson bay, may be used. It is reasonably certain that within this
latter area but one species is represented.”
One of the recent explorers, Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, and his brother, Mr. J.
W. Tyrrell, give us perhaps the most complete first-hand information as
to the caribou. In notes of the fauna of the country lying between the
eastern part of Athabaska lake and Churchill river, explored in the
summer of 1892, J. B. Tyrrell says:—“The Barren Grounds
caribou. . . . . . comes south in winter to the south end of Reindeer
lake and the upper portion of Mudjatik and Foster rivers. It travels
north in spring to the Barren Grounds, but a very few animals are
occasionally left behind, one having been shot in July near the north
end of Cree lake.”
Fort Fond du Lac (east end of Lake Athabaska) is stated by Mr. Tyrrell
in the same report to be “on one of the principal lines of travel of the
Barren Ground caribou, in their regular migrations north and south.”
In the report of his expedition down the Dubawnt valley and Chesterfield
inlet in 1893, Mr. Tyrrell mentions that his party first saw caribou (he
calls them _Rangifer Grœnlandicus_) on July 28 on Barlow lake, “and on
July 29, we met a vast herd of Barren Ground caribou collected on a good
feeding ground on the eastern shore of Carey lake.”
Mr. Tyrrell gives the following details:—“Four miles below Barlow lake,
the river Dubawnt enters the south end of Carey lake, so called in
honour of the Reverend Doctor Carey of St. John, N.B. After paddling up
the lake for five miles, directing our course towards a high point with
a large boulder on its summit, afterwards called Cairn point, we saw
AN IMMENSE HERD OF CARIBOU
(_Rangifer Grœnlandicus_) moving along the east shore. We at once
paddled towards the land, and found the deer standing on low wet grassy
land near the water, at the foot of a long stony slope.
“The following extract from my daily journal, with the photographs in
the front of the report, will give a fairly clear idea of the number of
deer seen:—
“July 30.—Yesterday was the first clear warm day that we have had for a
long time, but to day is also clear and warm, with a gentle breeze
blowing from the west. We spent the day skinning and cutting up the
fattest of the bucks we killed yesterday. Our camp is a hundred yards
from the lake, near the edge of a bog, with a scattered grove of larch
and black spruce just behind us. All day the caribou have been around us
in vast numbers, many thousands being collected together in single
herds. One herd collected in the hill behind our camp, and another
remained for hours in the wet bog on the point in front of us. The
little fawns were running about everywhere, often coming up to within a
yard or two of us, uttering their sharp grunts as they stood and looked
up at us, or as they turned and ran back to the does. About noon a large
herd had collected on the sides and summit of the hill behind us. Taking
the small hand camera with which we were supplied, we walked quietly
among them. As we approached to within a few yards of the dense herd, it
opened to let us in, and then formed a circle round us, so that we were
able to stand for a couple of hours and watch the deer as they stood in
the light breeze or rubbed slowly past each other to keep off the black
flies. The bucks, with their beautiful branching antlers, kept well in
the background. We obtained a number of photographs, which show the
animals in many positions; later in the afternoon a herd of bucks
trotted up to us, and stood at about forty yards distance. This was a
most beautiful sight, for their horns are now full grown, though still
soft at the tips, but unfortunately we had not the camera with us. We
did not shoot any to-day.”
In his paper before the British Association in 1897 Mr. Tyrrell said
that this herd at Carey lake must have contained between one and
TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND HEAD OF CARIBOU.
They were migrating southward towards the edge of the woods, where they
would spend the winter.
[Illustration: An Indian Dance Lodge.]
Mr. J. W. Tyrrell, who was with his brother upon this occasion, in his
book “Through the Sub-Arctics of Canada”, speaks of the caribou seen at
Carey lake as forming “many great bands literally covering the country
over wide areas. The valleys and hillsides for miles appeared to be
moving masses of caribou. To estimate their numbers would be impossible.
They could only be reckoned in acres or square miles. We walked to and
fro through the herd of caribou, causing little more alarm than one
would by walking through a herd of cattle in the field.”
Near the head of Dubawnt lake the Tyrrells, in August, noticed scattered
bands of deer, also two or three wolves and a wolverine.
In 1894, when Mr. J. B. Tyrrell’s party was descending Kazan river, they
first fell in with the Barren Lands caribou on the west side of Ennadai
lake about latitude 61°, on August 14. Mr. Tyrrell in his report says
the deer were travelling southward in large numbers. The country was
open and treeless, and the deer were rather difficult to approach, but
twelve were shot and cut up, and their meat was spread out to dry in the
sun and wind.”
Mr. J. W. Tyrrell mentions seeing some caribou and many signs of them
during his exploration of Hanbury and Thelon rivers in 1900. “While
descending Hanbury river, to the eastward of Great Slave lake, during
the early part of July, only an occasional straggling caribou was met.
On July 23, however, on the Thelon, he observed a large band moving
southward. In his report Mr. Tyrrell states:—“The Thelon was evidently
frequented on both sides by numbers of caribou, as their tracks were
everywhere to be seen, though few of the deer were met with, until the
lower stretches of the river were reached, their migration having
preceded us.”
Back relates that on July 15, 1834, while his party was descending Backs
river, at Beechey lake the swampy prairies, “which near the cascades
might be called plains,” were “all thickly inhabited by deer.” Back
calls the caribou “_Cervus tarandus_” (Linn).
Mr. David T. Hanbury found large bands of caribou, comprising adults of
both sexes and their young, proceeding southward along Hanbury river
about the last of July.
MIGRATION OF THE CARIBOU.
Writing of the migratory habits of the caribou, Mr. Hanbury
states:—“There is no doubt that caribou migrate. They go south in large
herds in autumn, and north in spring. They cross the country east of
Great Slave lake, round Artillery lake, and some distance east of it.
They do not appear on the main Ark-i-linik river, but between Aberdeen
and Schultz lakes they pass with some regularity. The migration takes
place on such a large scale, and over such a wide tract of country, that
it has been assumed that all caribou migrate; the fact seems to be that
the majority of animals remain in the north throughout the year. I have
myself shot caribou in winter along the west coast of Hudson bay, and
inland from the bay; along the north and south coasts of Chesterfield
inlet; in the country north of the head of the inlet as far as Garry
lake on Backs river, and along Backs river. I have also killed them to
the north and south of Baker, Aberdeen and Schultz lakes in winter, and
I know others who have killed them in winter in the country about Wager
river and Repulse bay. On the Arctic coast, at White Bear point, and on
Kent peninsula, and at other places which will be mentioned later,
caribou are always to be found during the winter. Thus, I think it may
be held as proved that very great numbers of caribou do not migrate.”
Mr. Hanbury, in another part of his book, mentions that on October 26,
1901, he hunted caribou near Baker lake, west of Chesterfield inlet. He
writes:—“On looking out I could see deer in thousands away to the west.
They seemed like small black stones in the distance, but with the glass
their movements could be distinctly seen.”
Mr. Hanbury announces that he was informed by the Eskimo of Ogden bay
that caribou are found on Kent peninsula, at Cape Barrow, and near the
coast of Victoria Land, throughout the winter, but that none remained
during that season between Cape Barrow and the Coppermine or near Ogden
bay.
Mr. Warburton Pike (See p. 19) in his book “The Barren Grounds of
Northern Canada” makes frequent and interesting references to the
caribou. He mentions that during his journey northward into the Barren
Grounds from the eastern part of Great Slave lake, in the autumn of
1889, caribou were first met with on Lake Camsell, about seventy miles
north of Great Slave lake, on September 15. The animals were then on
their way south, and many were seen during the remainder of September as
the party travelled northward.
DESCRIPTION OF A MIGRATION.
Mr. Pike encamped for the winter on the south shore of Mackay lake and
while there witnessed the migration southward, which he thus
describes:—“Scattered bands of caribou were almost always in sight from
the top of the ridge behind the camp, and increased in numbers until the
morning of October 20, when little Baptiste, who had gone for firewood,
woke us up before daylight with the cry of ‘La Foule! La Foule!’ and
even on the ledge we could hear the curious clatter made by a band of
travelling caribou. La Foule had really come and during its passage of
six days I was able to realize what an extraordinary number of these
animals still roam in the Barren Ground. From the ridge we had a
splendid view of the migration; all the south side of Mackay lake was
alive with moving beasts, while the ice seemed to be dotted all over
with black islands, and still away on the north shore, with the aid of
the glasses, we could see them coming like regiments on the march. In
every direction we could hear the grunting noise that the caribou always
make when travelling; the snow was broken into broad roads, and I found
it useless to try to estimate the number that passed within a few miles
of our encampment. We were just on the western edge of their passage,
and afterwards heard that a band of Dogribs, hunting some forty miles to
the west, were at this very time in the last straits of starvation, only
saving their lives by a hasty retreat into the woods, where they were
lucky enough to kill sufficient meat to stave off disaster. . . . . The
caribou, as is usually the case when they are in large numbers, were
very tame, and on several occasions I found myself right in the middle
of a band with a splendid chance to pick out any that seemed in good
condition. . . . . This passage of the caribou is the most remarkable
thing that I have ever seen in the course of many expeditions among the
big game of America. The buffalo were for the most part killed out
before my time, but, notwithstanding all the tall stories that are told
of their numbers, I cannot believe that the herds on the prairie ever
surpassed in size ‘La Foule’ of the caribou.”
NO DANGER OF STARVATION.
On his way north, the following spring, Mr. Pike first fell in with the
caribou in June. In his book, “The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada”,
referring to this event, Mr. Pike states:—“From this time, all through
the summer, till we again reached Great Slave lake late in August, we
had no difficulty about provisions; although there was many a time when
we could not say where we might find our next meal, something always
turned up, and we were never a single day without eating during the
whole day. I really believe it is a mistake to try to carry enough food
for a summer’s work in the Barren Grounds, as the difficulty of
transport is so great, and after the caribou are once found there is no
danger of starvation.
“We were now travelling with the bull caribou, which had just left the
thick woods, and made easy marches from lake to lake in a northeast
direction; the weather became cold again for the last time, and June 7
was like a bad winter’s day with a strong north wind and snowstorms.
Then the summer came suddenly, and on June 11 we were obliged to camp on
a high gravel ridge to await _le grand dégel_, which rendered travelling
impossible, till the deep water had run off the ice.”
When descending Lockhart river on his way from Artillery lake to Great
Slave lake, on his way back to civilization, Mr. Pike remarked “caribou
walking the ridges and swimming the lakes in every direction.”
A MIGRATION NEAR ARTILLERY LAKE.
Inspector Pelletier, Royal Northwest Mounted Police, in the report of
his patrol from Great Slave lake to Hudson bay, makes special reference
to the numbers of caribou, then migrating southward, seen during the
passage of his party from the eastern end of Great Slave lake, to Thelon
river. He writes:—“As we were approaching the portage from Burr to
Toura lake we sighted a large herd of deer coming out behind the grove
of trees. This was the first we had seen. They were mostly does, but a
few young bulls were scattered amongst them. We killed a small one which
proved a great addition to our larder. They were not much frightened by
us although they kept at a distance. They were in sight all the while we
were portaging. From Burr lake to Artillery lake we were practically
surrounded by deer. We camped for the night of July 21 at the fifteen
yards portage north of Toura lake and during the night deer kept passing
to and fro close to our tents in large numbers. On July 22 near the foot
of Artillery lake we saw thousands and thousands of deer, mostly bulls,
coming over the ridge behind our camp, making for the water and crossing
where it was no more than half a mile wide. Gradually the ridges on each
shore and the traverse itself were alive with them. It was a wonderful
sight seen late at night.
“At the south end of Artillery lake countless deer were seen; the bucks
and does seemed to belong to separate herds. They were crossing and
recrossing at that point where the lake is quite narrow, ranging from a
quarter mile to one and a half miles in width. For a distance of about
two or three miles the hills were covered with them and the water was
bridged in two or three different places at a time. This might appear to
be exaggerated; I would never have believed there were so many deer in
the north, only now that I have seen them, I must. The natives we met at
that place told us what we had seen was not the main herd but part of
it, that the main body was a few miles up the lake on the west shore;
they had just been there in their canoes the previous day. If what we
had seen was not the main herd I wondered how large the main herd could
be.
CARIBOU ALONG THE THELON.
“Deer were seen in good numbers along Sifton lake, near Timber rapids,
and at Timber rapids; they also were sighted in other places. At the
high sand ridge, about twelve miles below Sifton lake, a large herd was
feeding on an island. At the lower end of Timber rapids the stream
scatters and gets shallow, full of boulders, and while winding around
little channels a herd of deer was crossing, we could not possibly stop
without getting into some mix up. Luckily the deer sighted us and heard
us (we were making all the noise we could to frighten them). They rushed
through, leaving our little channel open. We could have touched them
with the paddle, they were so near. We grazed one rock, and that was due
to our attention being diverted by the deer.
“No game was seen on the Hanbury but a deer or two at the upper end.
Innumerable paths beaten by them were very distinct all the way, but we
saw no fresh tracks denoting recent passage.”
Writing of Thelon river itself, the Inspector states in his report:—“At
the lower end deer are very numerous at certain times of the year. At
their favourite traverses or crossings the ground is netted with deep,
well-defined deer trails. We saw only one deer on the whole of the
Thelon. I am told by natives that deer in the fall and spring are seen
by the thousands on their migrations north and south.”
WEST OF CHESTERFIELD INLET.
As to the series of lakes through which the waters of the Thelon and
Dubawnt are discharged into Chesterfield inlet, Inspector Pelletier
reports:—“From Beverly lake down to Hudson bay deer were met almost
daily, but not in large herds. Most were seen along the lower end of
Schultz lake, Schultz river rapids and along Baker lake. At Beverly lake
we met a camp of Eskimos, a few men and women. They were well provided
with everything in the line of arms, ammunition, clothing and
necessaries of life. At the foot of Baker lake is another camp of
natives, numbering about twenty-five. They were well stocked with
everything, killing a good number of deer, and laying in a stock of meat
and deerskin for the winter.”
A few notes from journals or reports of other travellers as to the
distribution and migration of this remarkable animal are instructive.
During Anderson and Stewart’s journey down Backs river in the summer of
1855 caribou were found to be numerous about Clinton-Colden and Aylmer
lakes, and the species was observed on Adelaide peninsula in the far
north.
In the summer and autumn of 1879 the party of Frederick Schwatka,
searching for relics of Sir John Franklin, found large numbers of
caribou on King William island and on the lower part of Backs river.
FOURTEEN DAYS IN PASSING.
Frank Russell, who passed the winter of 1893-94 at Fort Rae on the north
arm of Great Slave lake, says, concerning the Barren Ground caribou:—“A
few years ago they were often killed from the buildings and throughout
the winter might be found near the post. In 1877 an unbroken line of
caribou crossed the frozen lake near the fort. They were fourteen days
in passing and in such a mass that in the words of an eye witness
‘daylight could not be seen through the column’. They were now seldom
seen within several miles of Rae.” During the winter he spent there only
one small band crossed the lake towards the west.
Mr. W. J. McLean states that in 1899 the caribou arrived in the
neighbourhood of old Fort Reliance, at the extreme east end of Great
Slave lake, on August 12.
Doctor J. M. Bell states that on his trip eastward along the north shore
of Great Bear lake, in 1900, he first met with caribou sixty miles west
of Fort Confidence late in July, and later found them fairly numerous
between Fort Confidence and the lower Coppermine.
ACTUAL VALUE OF THE CARIBOU.
As to the actual value of the caribou to the country, Mr. J. B. Tyrrell
stated in his paper before the British Association:—“Their flesh is
excellent eating, and the animals will doubtless furnish an important
food-supply for explorers and pioneers in that country. Whether they can
be tamed, and thus brought permanently into the service of man or
whether they must disappear like most of the other denizens of the
wilderness, remains to be seen; but even if they should be doomed to
disappear, it seems quite possible that they might be replaced by tame
reindeer from Lapland who would feed in summer on the vast grassy
plains, and in winter would take kindly to a diet of Canadian lichens.”
Mr. J. W. Tyrrell considers the Barren Ground caribou “is the same as
the reindeer of Lapland.” He states in his book “Through the Sub-Arctics
of Canada”:—“As a source of venison it cannot be excelled, especially
in the autumn season, when it is in prime condition. During September
and October the males are rolling fat, and as food their flesh is then
equal to the finest beef. Of all the meats I have ever tasted certainly
reindeer tongues takes the first place for daintiness and delicacy of
flavour.”
Captain Back, writing in 1835, stated of the reindeer or caribou:—“It
furnishes food and clothing to the Dogrib and Copper Indians, the
Chipewyans, the Swamp or Coast Crees, and to the Esquimaux, but none of
the American tribes have domesticated it like the Laplanders. Every part
of the animal is eaten, even to the contents of its stomach, and the
half-dried tongue when roasted is perhaps the greatest delicacy that the
fur countries afford. Reindeer meat, when in the best condition, is not
only superior to that of the moose deer and bison, but, in my opinion,
it surpasses the best mutton or English-fed venison.”
Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton, lecturing on his trip to the Barren Lands in
1906, stated while in the region of perpetual day or night, his party
had a caribou at hand whenever they wanted one for a meal. When they
pitched tents near trail, the shaggy animals loped along during the
night and tripped over the guy-ropes.
“Cutting in half the estimates of explorers who went before me, and
making a most conservative estimate there are not less than
THIRTY MILLIONS OF THESE CARIBOU
letting the wind blow through their whiskers in that northern country,”
said the lecturer. “There is absolutely no destructive war on them, and
no possibility of their destruction. When the great northland is opened
up, it will be for Canadians to decide what is to be done with those
animals, and how is that beautiful country to be opened up? Some say
that the reindeer will be the medium, but I hold that it will be the
yak, which roams through the north of China. This animal is strong and
sturdy, can bear the heaviest burdens, and can stand any extreme of
climate.”
THE EXPERIMENT IN ALASKA.
In view of the suggestions that have been made as to the domestication
of the Barren Lands caribou, and recalling the fact that through the
agency of Doctor Grenfell of Labrador, Lapland reindeer have been
recently (1912) sent out to the Athabaska region as an experiment, the
following paragraph from the “Christian Herald” of a recent date is
interesting: “It is only a few years since the United States Government,
as an experiment which it was hoped would help the Eskimos and Indians
of northern Alaska, imported a few score reindeer from Norway, with a
number of Lapps skilled in their care. Subsequently other reindeer were
brought from the opposite coast of Asia, and although it was known that
the particular form of moss or lichen on which these animals live, and
which flourishes under the snow, was abundant within the American Arctic
circle, the attempt to introduce reindeer was regarded by a majority of
our citizens as being quite as wild and visionary as was the purchase of
Alaska by Secretary Seward in 1867.
“The few score reindeer have grown to twenty-seven thousand three
hundred and twenty five distributed in forty-two herds. More than
one-half, or fourteen thousand nine hundred and ninety-three, is owned
by natives who before the advent of the reindeer were in a state of the
most wretched poverty. Of the remainder three thousand seven hundred and
thirty are owned by the United States, four thousand one hundred and
ninety-four by missions and four thousand four hundred and seven by
Lapps. The total income of the Eskimos from the reindeer industry during
the last year reported was twenty-four thousand six hundred and
thirty-six dollars.”
FUTURE SUPPLY OF CHEESE, MEAT AND LEATHER.
A newspaper despatch is authority for the statements that the first
shipment of reindeer meat has been shipped from Alaska to Seattle, and
that the gentleman in charge of the reindeer in Alaska for the United
States government says that in a quarter of a century there will be
three million beef reindeer in Alaska, and that they will thrive and
multiply and fatten on the Arctic vegetation where even a goat could not
live. Their flesh, he asserts, is more palatable than either beef or
mutton.
In view of the success of this experiment in Alaska it is predicted that
in the far north of America, as in the far north of Europe, the reindeer
will be the principal domestic animal, supplying the people not only of
the northland itself, but of more southerly latitudes, with cheese, and
meat, and leather.
THE MUSK-OX.
Mr. J. B. Tyrrell is authority for the statement that besides the
caribou, musk-oxen (_Ovibos moschatus_) are the only other large
herbivorous animals that live in the open plains of the north, and they
scorn the shelter of the forest even in winter, their long shaggy coat
of hair furnishing sufficient protection against the severest gales. Mr.
Tyrrell in his report of his explorations along Dubawnt and Kazan rivers
states that the habitat of the musk-ox seems to be confined to that
country north of the portion of Dubawnt river between Dubawnt lake and
Hudson bay. None were seen in the course of either of the two
expeditions mentioned, but Eskimos met with at the head of Chesterfield
inlet had a number of fresh skins. The Eskimos on Kazan river reported
to Mr. Tyrrell that there were no musk-oxen in their neighbourhood.
Mr. E. A. Preble states in his report:—“This famous ruminant within
historic times ranged over the entire extent of the Barren Grounds, from
the mouth of the Mackenzie to Churchill. It has now become extirpated
over large areas at the eastern and western extremities of this range,
but still exists in great numbers in the less accessible parts of its
habitat.”
Captain Back records on July 13, 1834, while descending the river which
now bears his name, he noticed two or three hundred deer, and, apart
from them, herds of musk-oxen were either grazing or sleeping on its
western banks, which there (above Beechey lake) looked green and swampy,
and were all more or less cloven by inconsiderable ravines, with a
clayey surface. Back mentions that his party killed a musk-ox on
Montreal island, off the mouth of Backs river, August 3, 1834. While
ascending that river on his return trip, on September 1, Back near Lake
Pelly noticed a herd of musk-oxen and a few straggling deer quietly
feeding on the sand-hills, “and many of the white, brown, and laughing
geese were flying about, and seemed to be collecting for their southerly
migration.”
THE MEAT OF THE MUSK-OX.
Back states that the musk-ox “feeds, like the reindeer, chiefly on
lichens, and the meat of a well-fed cow is agreeably tasty and juicy,
but that of a lean cow and of the bull is strongly impregnated with a
disagreeable musky flavour, so as to be palatable only to a very hungry
man.”
In his evidence before the select committee of the Senate in 1888, Hon.
William Christie, formerly Inspecting Chief Factor of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, stated that the company at that time got a few—a very
few—musk-ox hides at Churchill and Fort Rae. This animal kept pretty
well in the open country along the Arctic coast. Witness was four years
at Churchill, and was asked by a friend to get a musk-ox robe for him,
and was two or three years before he obtained it.
Hon. Frank Oliver informed the same committee that Mr. Murdoch McLeod, a
retired Hudson’s Bay Company’s official, told him that a musk-ox bull
which he helped to kill weighed fourteen hundred pounds, dressed, and
the robe measured fifteen feet from nose to rump. The musk-oxen were
found generally in bands of ten to forty. Some winters they were more
scarce than others, which could not be explained.
Mr. D. T. Hanbury, writing of the original exploration by him of Thelon
and Hanbury rivers, states:—“After ascending the main Ark-i-linik
(Thelon) river for about thirty-five miles, musk-ox tracks commenced to
get very numerous. The muddy shores in places were so ploughed up with
their tracks as to give the idea that a drove of cattle had passed
along.” In this vicinity the explorer saw several herds of musk-oxen.
A MUSK-OX PRESERVE.
In another place in his book “Sport and Travel in the Northland of
Canada”, Mr. Hanbury writes:—“On the main Ark-i-linik (Thelon) river
there is a stretch of country about eighty miles in length into which no
human being enters. The Eskimos do not hunt so far west, and Yellow
Knives and Dog Ribs from Slave lake do not go so far east. To penetrate
this country in the dead of winter would be simply to court starvation.
Then the deer have all departed, and to depend on finding musk-oxen at
the end of the journey would be risky indeed. Thus there remains the
spot in this Great Barren Northland which is sacred to the musk-ox. Here
the animals remain in their primeval state, exhibiting no fear, only
curiosity. I approached several herds within thirty yards, photographed
them at my leisure, moving them round as I wished, and then retired,
leaving them still stupidly staring at me as if in wonder. When the deer
were not procurable a musk-ox was killed. The height of a large bull
which I killed in 1896 at a spot about fifty miles farther north was
fifty-five inches; horns twenty-seven inches.”
A MIDNIGHT MUSK-OX HUNT.
In the official report of his exploratory trip from Great Slave lake to
Chesterfield inlet via Thelon river in 1900 Mr. J. W. Tyrrell states
that his party first encountered musk-oxen among the lakes in the
vicinity of the height of land between the basin of Great Slave lake,
and that of the Thelon. He thus refers to this event:—“Whilst sailing
northward into Sifton lake we encountered a gale, which drove us ashore
at the focus of the four arms. Thus finding a little leisure time thrust
upon us, Mr. Fairchild and I, providing ourselves with compasses and
field glasses, made an exploratory tramp of a few miles. The season had
now advanced to June 27, and at such time in our latitude (63° 44′), we
had no darkness, although the sun dipped below the horizon for a short
time. The hours of night were, therefore, as suitable for travel as
those of day, and hence it was ten p.m. when, scanning the valleys and
hillsides with my powerful stereoscopic field glasses, I observed a band
of musk-oxen feeding a mile or two to the northward. Fifteen of them
were counted in all, and this with genuine surprise, as we had not
expected to see any of these animals for some time to come. They were
none the less welcome, for our camp was much in need of fresh meat, and
stimulated by this knowledge we procured two rifles from camp and set
off in one of the canoes with two Indians, on a midnight hunt. The lake
had now become quite calm, and the northern sky a glow of lurid light,
making the scene a most enchanting picture, such as can only be seen
within the shadow of the Arctic. For three miles our light canoe glided
over the glassy surface of the lake in perfect silence, excepting for
the faint rippling of the water against its sides, until when near the
shore there suddenly appeared over the adjoining ridge the huge black
forms of nine musk-oxen.”
MUSK-OXEN IN THELON VALLEY.
The following paragraph from Mr. Tyrrell’s report is also interesting
under this head:—“As we glided quickly and quietly down Thelon river,
one of the most interesting features met with was the occurrence of
numerous bands of musk-oxen feeding upon the luxuriant grass or sleeping
on the river bank. Attempts were made to obtain photographs of some of
these noble brutes, but such were not very successful for two reasons;
first, because of the wariness of the animals, and second, because of
the weariness of the photographers.
“It was observed that when bands of cows with their young were met with,
they were usually very timid and fled at first approach of danger, but
in the case of straggling bulls, which were frequently seen, they were
much more fearless and allowed us to approach as closely as prudence and
their defiant attitudes would permit. On one occasion, when Mr.
Fairchild climbed the river bank in order to photograph a fine specimen,
he had no sooner snapped his camera and turned his back, than the brute
charged and followed him to the bank. He was at once covered by our
rifles, but as Fairchild stepped safely into the canoe, no shots were
fired. Indeed day after day we passed numbers of musk-oxen, without
molesting them in any way except by trying to photograph them. A notable
fact in regard to the musk-oxen was that every one seen was on the north
side of the Thelon, or on islands on the river. On one occasion when
three musk-oxen were met with on an island they immediately plunged into
the water and swam rapidly to the north shore, after gaining which they
could be seen galloping across the plains for miles.”
In his report Mr. J. W. Tyrrell classes the herds of musk-oxen as among
the resources of the country “which are of great value to Canada.” He
adds:—“For the preservation of the musk-oxen—which may be so easily
slaughtered—and are already rapidly diminishing in numbers, I would
suggest that the territory between Thelon and Backs rivers, be set apart
by the Government as a game preserve.”
APPEARANCE OF THE MUSK-OX.
In his interesting volume “Through the Sub-Arctics of Canada,” Mr.
Tyrrell writes:—
“The musk-oxen are claimed as relatives both by the sheep and ox
families, though they perhaps more properly represent a distinct family
by themselves.
“In general appearance they may be said to somewhat resemble a huge
brown, horned sheep, but in size and weight they much more nearly
resemble the ox, or better still, the buffalo, the monarch of the
prairies a generation ago.
“Like the buffalo, the musk-ox (_Ovibos moschatus_) is gregarious in its
habits, but where the former existed in thousands the latter is found
only in tens—a band of twenty or thirty being as many as are commonly
found together. The above comparison of numbers may also be taken as
approximately representing the whole existing musk-ox family as compared
with that of the buffalo in his palmy days.
“In prehistoric times, as shown by the exhumed remains, the musk-ox
occupied a very wide area of the earth’s surface, both in Europe, Asia
and America, but now his range is limited to the northern parts of
Canada and Greenland. From personal observation I have found the
southern boundary of the musk-ox habitat to-day to be Hudson strait and
bay, Chesterfield inlet, Thelon river, Clinton-Colden and Aylmer lakes;
whereas in the time of Samuel Hearne, one hundred and fifty years ago,
we have his assertion that musk-oxen frequented the vicinity of
Churchill, four hundred miles south of their present haunts.
“It is no doubt a fact, not only have the musk-oxen been driven farther
and farther from the haunts of men, but that their numbers have been
correspondingly reduced from year to year by natives who have long
pursued a policy of systematic slaughter in quest of the princely robes
so much in demand by the fur-traders.”
MUSK-OX ROBES STACKED LIKE HAY.
“The musk-ox is one of the noblest and most valuable animals of the
northern shore of Hudson bay and adjacent territory. It is found in very
considerable numbers and affords most luxurious robes. I have seen
musk-ox robes stacked by the Eskimos like hay-cocks, along the shore of
Chesterfield inlet, awaiting the opportunity to market them.”
On Thelon river, from the junction of the Hanbury down for over half its
length or about one hundred and fifty miles, Inspector Pelletier, during
his long patrol already several times referred to, saw innumerable
tracks of musk-ox, some fairly fresh and on both banks. In his official
report the Inspector states:—
“On August 9 (the day after the descent of Thelon river was begun), we
sighted our first musk-ox. He was on a small island, lying down asleep,
and looked very much like a large overturned sod until suddenly he rose
and we were astonished at his size. I had always heard a musk-ox was not
a large animal. This one we saw was a large bull of not very great
height—perhaps, I would judge, about thirteen hands, but of immense
size and weight; he would have scaled very close to fifteen hundred
pounds. The long hair was coming down nearly to the ground, and when he
decided to run away the fur on him was of such thickness and length that
it waved up and down at every gallop as the wings of a bird flying. A
few miles farther down about noon we sighted another musk-ox. He was on
the north shore, sleeping on the top of a grassy bank. We made much
noise to attract his attention. He suddenly rose, and looked straight at
us. While doing so I took a snapshot of him. I was hurrying another
exposure in place when all at once he turned right about and disappeared
over the bank. He was a large animal, but not so large as the first one.
We were on the lookout for more, but saw none that day. We sighted one
musk-ox on the morning of August 10. It was the third and last we saw.
We saw innumerable tracks though, and at certain times of the year large
herds must frequent the shores of this river.”
THE MOOSE AND FUR-BEARING ANIMALS.
The moose (_Alces Americanus_) being a woodland animal, is not found in
the interior of the Barren Lands, but it is found in places in the
sparsely timbered margins of the country and in the narrow wooded strips
and points which extend from the forested areas along the rivers and
lakes well into the treeless plains. Mr. J. W. Tyrrell states that
during his party’s exploration of the upper Thelon in the summer of
1900, on two occasions moose antlers were found embedded in the sand of
the river banks. Hanbury states that moose are found in Thelon river,
below its junction with the Hanbury, and mentions seeing numerous fresh
tracks and places where the animals had browsed on the willows. In
August, 1902, while descending Dease river, northeast of Great Bear
lake, he found tracks along its banks.
Inspector Pelletier, speaking in his official report of the game along
the Hanbury and Thelon, states:—“There is good fur to be had in winter
besides musk-ox, such as foxes, wolves, wolverines, brown bears, and
perhaps mink and marten. . . . Many wolves were seen at the foot of Ford
falls (on the Hanbury). Five were in a pack.”
Mr. J. B. Tyrrell in his paper before the British Association at Toronto
stated:—“The white wolf and the wolverine are the two most common
predatory animals in the interior, while the white bear and white fox
are common in places along the coast.”
Mr. J. W. Tyrrell (“Through the Sub-Arctics of Canada”) states:—“Black
and red as well as white foxes are also commonly found in the country
north of the timber line. I have seen and handled a single black foxskin
which realized for its owner the sum of one thousand six hundred
dollars.”
THE POLAR BEAR.
As to the polar bear, which is found all along the shores of Hudson bay,
and the northern coast, Mr. Tyrrell (“Through the Sub-Arctics of
Canada”) states:—“In the animal world the polar bear is admittedly the
monarch of the north. He is the bear of bears, being described by all
Arctic travellers as possessing enormous strength and great voracity. Of
the score of polars whose more or less intimate acquaintance I have had
occasion to make, I have seen at least two whose tracks in the snow
measured fifteen by eighteen inches, whose length measures over nine
feet, and whose slain carcases tipped the steelyard at from fifteen to
sixteen hundred pounds.”
In the same volume Mr. Tyrrell states:—“Of feathered game there is a
great abundance, particularly of waterfowl, the most important of which
are:—Brant, Hutchins and snowy geese; northern, American and king
eiders; squaw ducks, swans, loons, nurres, guillemots and many other sea
fowls. In many places I have seen geese in such numbers that they could
be killed by hundreds with sticks. Ptarmigan, also, are found in great
numbers in many places in the open country. They are commonly caught by
the natives with nets, and form a staple article of food.”
WHERE THE WILD GEESE NEST.
Mr. J. W. Tyrrell mentions that two young broods of geese were seen on
Dubawnt lake on August 15, 1893. He adds:—“It is commonly said that the
breeding place of the wild goose has never been discovered, but here, at
any rate, was the breeding place of these.”
In the official report of his trip in 1900, Mr. Tyrrell states:—“Many
broods of geese were observed on the low grassy banks of the Thelon.
They were of a small grey species, with black necks and heads and white
bands around the latter. Later in the season great numbers of moulting
geese were met with, and thirty or forty of them were knocked over with
sticks for supplying our kettles.
“Ducks and ptarmigan were also met with, though not in great numbers,
whilst the spruce woods were enlivened by the songs of singing birds,
notably American robins.”
Hearne (p. 170) thus refers to the feathered game in Coppermine river
region:—“When at the sea-side (at the mouth of Coppermine river),
besides seeing many seals on the ice, I also observed several flocks of
sea-fowl flying about the shores, such as gulls, blackheads, loons, old
wives, ha-ha-wies, geese, Arctic gulls, and willicks. In the adjacent
ponds also were some swans and geese in a moulting state, and in the
marshes some curlews and plover; plenty of hawkes-eyes (i.e., the green
plover), and some yellow-legs; also several other small birds that visit
these northern parts in the spring to breed and moult, and which
doubtless return southward as the fall advances. My reason for this
conjecture is founded on a certain knowledge that all these birds
migrate in Hudson bay, and it is but reasonable to think that they are
less capable of withstanding the rigour of such a long and cold winter
as they must necessarily experience in a country which is so many
degrees within the Arctic circle, as that is where I now (July 1771) saw
them.”
FLIGHT OF THE WATERFOWL.
Back mentions the fact that while at Artillery lake on September 5,
1833, “impending storms were threatened by the cackling of hundreds of
geese, which at an immense height were winging their flight to the
southward. Ranged according to their families, the grey, or bustard, the
white and the laughing geese came past in quick succession, vying in
swiftness, as if anxious to escape from the wintry horrors of the
north.”
Speaking of his exploration of Thelon and Hanbury rivers, Mr. Hanbury
(“Sport and Travel in the Northland of Canada”), referring to feathered
game along the route, states:—“Ptarmigan are very numerous in the
willow beds all along the river. Excellent sport might be had by any one
with time and ammunition to spare. On a journey small game is not
interfered with unless other meat and fish give out. The ptarmigan were
very handsome at this time of year (summer). But for a few white
feathers in the wings, they might easily have been mistaken for grouse,
the colour, flight and call (both in the early morning and when flushed)
exactly resembling that of the red grouse. The young birds were strong
on the wing, fully forward as grouse in the north of Scotland about the
middle of August.”
Inspector Pelletier states that when he descended the Thelon waterfowl
were seen only on Baker lake, and then only a few, while on the other
lakes and rivers none were seen. Ptarmigan were fairly plentiful in
places all along the lower stretch from Schultz lake down.
INEXHAUSTIBLE SUPPLIES OF FISH.
The resources of the Barren Lands in the way of fish are tremendous. We
know that the salt, tidal waters which lave the eastern and northern
shores of this huge area teem with fish and that the same can be
truthfully said of the lakes and rivers which have been explored and are
indicated on the map. We also know that the country is dotted with
innumerable lakes and drained by many rivers and streams which have
never been visited by white men, and which consequently find no places
on any map. And these too contain fish.
Hearne’s journal contains many references to the fish supply of the
region he travelled through in 1771 between Churchill, the mouth of the
Coppermine, Great Slave lake, and Lake Athabaska. One of the pioneer
explorer’s fish stories is particularly interesting. At pages 158, 159
and 160 of his book he relates that his party, in retreating up the
Coppermine after the brutal massacre by his Indians of the Eskimos at
Bloody falls (as he called the spot after the massacre), saw an old
woman, almost blind, “sitting by the side of the water, killing salmon,
which lay at the foot of the fall as thick as a shoal of herrings.”
Hearne proceeds:—“It may appear strange, that a person supposed to be
almost blind should be employed in the business of fishing, and
particularly with any degree of success, but when the multitude of fish
is taken into account the wonder will cease. Indeed they were so
numerous at the foot of the fall, that when a light pole, armed with a
few spikes, which was the instrument which the old woman used, was put
under water, and hauled up with a jerk, it was scarcely possible to miss
them. Some of my Indians tried the method, for curiosity, with the old
woman’s staff, and seldom got less than two at a jerk, sometimes three
or four. Those fish, though very fine, and beautifully red, are but
small, seldom weighing more (as near as I could judge) than six or seven
pounds, and in general much less. Their numbers at this place were
almost incredible, perhaps equal to any thing that is related of the
salmon in Kamschatka, or any other part of the world. It does not appear
that the Eskimos have any other method of catching the fish unless it be
by spears and darts, for no appearance of nets was discovered either at
their tents, or on any part of the shore. This is the case with all the
Eskimos on the west side of Hudson bay; spearing in summer and angling
in winter are the only methods they have yet devised to catch fish,
though at times their whole dependence for support is on that article.”
Captain Back mentions having observed grayling rising to flies at the
outlet of Pelly lake on Backs river, July 15, 1834. Back also mentions
that while descending Backs river in July, 1883, his party met a party
of Eskimos who were camped at the foot of a fall below Pelly lake, where
they had come to get a supply of fish. Thousands of whitefish and small
trout, caught in the eddy below the fall, lay about, split, and exposed
to dry on the rocks.
Back’s party caught an inconnu (which he calls _Salmo Mackenzii_) with a
number of other fish in the eastern arm of Great Slave lake August 14,
1833.
THE ARCTIC SALMON.
Before the Senate committee of 1888, Mr. Christie, Chief Inspector of
the Hudson’s Bay Company, stated that salmon were found in large numbers
on the Churchill, as soon as the ice cleared out of the river, about the
middle of July. They entered the river and went out of it with the tide.
They did not run up the river to spawn. He thought these salmon quite as
large as those he had seen in Scotland.
Mr. A. P. Low, Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, examined
before the Senate committee of 1907, stated that in the far northern
waters there are no true salmon, but there is the Arctic salmon, which
is found along the east side of Hudson bay from Cape Jones, and on the
west side, north of the mouth of Churchill river. These are in many
places very abundant and are caught freely in the summer time when they
are out in the sea. They go into the sea about July and return to the
rivers and lakes again some time in September. They are only out there
about two months. This Arctic salmon is an excellent fish, beautifully
coloured, a very fine salmon colour, and it is not so rich a fish as the
Atlantic salmon. It resembles the western salmon more than it does the
eastern or Atlantic salmon. The salmon fishery on Hudson bay would no
doubt have commercial value were there an outlet to a market. The
whitefish of Hudson bay is a very fine flavoured fish.
The portion of Hudson bay in the vicinity of Southampton island is where
the whale fishing is done. Formerly it extended to Marble island.
In reply to various questions, Mr. Low said he had no knowledge of
herring or mackerel going into Hudson bay, but there are some cod there.
He had taken them up near Cape Fullerton and along that coast, but they
have not been found very plentiful yet.
In the report of his explorations in 1893 and 1894, Mr. J. B. Tyrrell
says:—“It is probable that some of the true salmon ascend the inlets
and streams west of the northern part of Hudson bay, but the fact was
not definitely determined.” Before the select committee of the Senate in
1907 he stated he did not know what fish there are along the shores of
Hudson bay. “The Eskimos report that there are salmon and other fish
there, but I did not see them myself.”
PLENTY OF SALMON RUNNING.
Mr. Hanbury, speaking of his trip across country from Chesterfield inlet
to the Arctic, reported “plenty of salmon running” in the northern
rivers in June.
Mr. J. W. Tyrrell (“Through the Sub-Arctics of Canada”) states:—“Salmon
of the very finest quality are found in abundance both in Hudson bay and
strait. I have several times procured them from Eskimos and can testify
as to their superior quality.” Mr. Tyrrell does not state whether any of
these salmon were caught on the west side of the bay.
We find the following interesting paragraphs as to the fish along the
Arctic coast in “Sport and Travel in Northern Canada” (Hanbury):—“On
May 29, after travelling about ten miles, I obtained an observation for
latitude which gave 68° 25′ north. Three miles more brought us to the
east coast of Kent peninsula, or rather to a small inlet of the coast,
where several Huskies were fishing with their copper fish-hooks through
holes in the ice. In the evening they brought me seven of the fish they
had caught, which proved to be codling, the same in appearance and size
as those we have found around the coast of Great Britain. I was
surprised to see these fish, for the Hudson bay Huskies had always
denied the existence of any sort of cod in Hudson bay. The Arctic Husky
name for these codling was u-wuk, and they were reported to be very
plentiful along the coast at this time of year.”
According to Doctor Richardson:—“Trout of various kinds and of large
size inhabit the rivers that fall into Arctic sea, and on the coast near
the mouth of Coppermine river, a species closely resembling the
sea-trout of England was abundant in the shallows.”
FISH IN THE DUBAWNT AND THE KAZAN.
Mr. J. B. Tyrrell in the report of his exploratory trips down Dubawnt
and Kazan rivers in 1893 and 1894 states:—“Fish seemed to be everywhere
abundant in the lakes and streams though very few were caught. The lake
trout (_Cristivomer namaycush_) and whitefish (_Coregonus clupeiformis_)
appeared to be the most abundant and valuable food fishes, the latter
being especially abundant in Dubawnt lake. Pike (_Esox lucius_) and one
or more species of suckers were also seen.
Mr. Tyrrell states in his evidence before the Senate committee of 1907
that as far north as Dubawnt lake (63° north latitude) the whitefish and
trout were plentiful in all the streams. Mr. Tyrrell caught them in
Dubawnt lake. Farther northwards he did not catch any. There are great
quantities of fish. The fact is there are all the fish the lakes will
hold—they are as full as the water can supply food for them.
While Mr. Tyrrell’s party was descending Dubawnt river in August, 1894,
they made a big haul of trout and whitefish below Markham lake;
according to Mr. J. B. Tyrrell (“Through the Sub-Arctics of
Canada”):—“The whitefish ranged from six to ten pounds in weight; the
trout went up to twenty-five pounds.”
In his paper before the British Association Mr. J. W. Tyrrell
stated:—“Whitefish and lake trout are plentiful in the lakes and
streams; but as yet very little is known about the character and
distribution of the denizens of most of the water stretches.”
FISH PLENTIFUL IN THE THELON.
Mr. Hanbury in describing his exploration of the Ark-i-linik (Thelon and
Hanbury rivers) states:—“Fish were plentiful all along the Ark-i-linik;
in fact, I never saw such a grand river for fish. Trout, whitefish, and
toolabies (very similar to whitefish) abound, and large numbers can be
taken with nets of from three to four and one-half inch mesh. There are
few rivers equal to the Ark-i-linik for food fishes.”
All travellers agree that there are large numbers of fish in the eastern
arm of Great Slave lake and in the lakes between that sheet of water and
the Thelon. Mr. J. W. Tyrrell in the report of his trip in 1900
states:—“The resources of Artillery lake and vicinity, outside of any
mineral wealth it may possess, lie in its fisheries, its furs and meat
supplies. In regard to the fisheries, I can testify that its deep, cold
waters abound with the finest specimens of lake trout as well as
whitefish, pike and carp. At one place in about fifteen minutes, with a
single spoon hook, one of my men pulled out eighteen fine trout, some of
which were brought to camp, strung on a pole and photographed by me.
Some of these fish were from sixteen to twenty pounds in weight. In
regard to the fish of Artillery lake, I was told
A MOST ASTONISHING STORY
by the Indian “Pierre Fort Smith” and his companion. They affirm that
they have frequently seen fish of from twenty to thirty feet long in the
water, and described them as being of black colour, with long slender
horns or feelers. They say they have never killed one of them—being
afraid of them—but that they are frequently seen in the deep waters
when crossing the lake. When I smiled at their story with some
expression of doubt, they became very indignant and with one accord
stoutly declared every word of it to be true. I offered them ‘one
hundred skins’ if they would capture or kill one of these fish for me,
but they only said they could not do so; they were too big, and they
were afraid of them.”
In the report of his patrol from Great Slave lake to Chesterfield inlet,
Inspector Pelletier gives us the following notes on fish and game along
his route:—“We saw no game along the lake (Great Slave lake) such as
deer, bears, etc., no water fowls, partridges or ptarmigan. Fish, on the
contrary, are very plentiful. Large lake trout weighing up to
twenty-five pounds take well to the troll, but this trout is not a game
fish, and is very coarse food. The smaller trout are better in every
way. Whitefish is abundant, and of splendid quality. We saw no
‘Inconnus’, the season being too early.”
ARTILLERY LAKE TEEMS WITH TROUT.
Artillery lake teems with trout, some of large size, and at the foot of
the rapids on “Kasba river trout are taken by the troll, some weighing
eighteen and twenty pounds. There must be larger ones but we did not
secure any.
“At the foot of every rapid on upper Hanbury river trout and grayling
can be caught. Some trout are very large, over twenty-five pounds. The
best eating are the small ones about two pounds, the flesh of which is
very red. They do not rise to the fly, but catch the spoon very well.
The ordinary maskinonge pattern proved the most successful.”
As to Thelon river, the Inspector states:—“Fish are abundant. Anywhere
where nets are set whitefish of splendid quality are caught.” As to the
long reach of lakes above Chesterfield inlet he says:—“Fish are
plentiful in all the lakes. On Baker lake we saw some very large trout
jumping near the mouth of a small river emptying into the lake.”
The Indians and the few white travellers who have been there report a
plentiful supply of fine fish in all the large lakes north of Great
Slave lake and about the headwaters of Backs river, which used to be
known as Great Fish river on account of the large fish caught in its
waters. Mr. Warburton Pike was at Aylmer lake in June 1890 and writes in
his book (“The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada”):—“At the head of
every bay a stream ran into the lake, and the open water at its mouth
was always a sure find for trout; forty or fifty large fish were often
caught in a day with a hook and line at these places, and, as we could
always kill caribou, even the dogs were getting fat in this land of
plenty.”
We have this testimony from Hanbury (“Sport and Travel in the Northland
of Canada”) as to the fish life of the lakes still farther north and on
the height of land dividing the Coppermine watershed from that of Great
Bear lake:—“We all regretted leaving Teshi-er-pi or Dismal lake. It
certainly did not appear ‘dismal’ to us, but quite the reverse. I do not
remember ever having come across a lake where fish were so numerous.
Large trout, some of which ran up to twenty-five pounds, could be seen
swimming in the clear water as we paddled along. The tollabies we caught
averaged nearer five pounds than four, and as before remarked, were most
excellent eating. Arctic trout were numberless.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
The reader of the preceding pages will have observed, from the variety
of publications from which quotations have been made, that the
literature relating to the far northlands of Canada is
considerable—quite extensive in fact. Below is a partial list of
written authorities consulted in the preparation of this book. It does
not pretend to be a complete bibliography of the country by any means,
many publications which were carefully read through not being mentioned
because they do not throw any direct light upon the natural resources of
the region, being merely books of adventure, or publications relating
wholly to those topographical features of the country which are clearly
indicated in present-day maps. The following list includes works from
which enquirers for additional knowledge of the country are likely to
obtain serviceable information.
ADAM, G. MERCER.—“The Canadian Northwest, its History and its
Troubles.”—Rose Publishing Co., Toronto, 1885.
AMI, H. H., D.Sc., F.G.S., F.R.S.C.—“Resources of the Country between
Quebec and Winnipeg, along the line of the G.T.P. Ry.”—(Sessional paper
143), King’s Printer, Ottawa, 1903.
ANDERSON, JAMES.—“Extracts from Chief-Factor James Anderson’s Arctic
Journal.”—Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc., Vol. XXVII, pp. 321-328, 1857.
ARMSTRONG, JOHN.—Report of the Preliminary Surveys for a Proposed
Railway to Hudson bay, (Sessional paper No. 20 d., 1910). King’s
Printer, Ottawa.
BACK, CAPTAIN GEORGE, R.N.—“Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition to
the mouth of the Great Fish River, and along the shores of the Arctic
Ocean, in the years 1833, 1834, 1835,” by Captain Back, R. N., Commander
of the Expedition. Zoological Appendix by John Richardson. London and
Philadelphia, 1836.
BELL, JAMES MACINTOSH, M.A.—“Report on the Topography and Geology of
Great Bear lake and of a chain of lakes and streams thence to Great
Slave lake.” Part C., Annual Report, Vol. XII, Geological Survey of
Canada, King’s Printer, Ottawa, 1901.
BELL, ROBERT, I.S.O., M.D., C.M., D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S.—Reports in the
Annual report of the Geological Survey of Canada particularly from 1877
to 1908. King’s Printer, Ottawa.
BELL, DR. ROBT., I.S.O., etc.—Special reports in Geol. Survey Reports
1877-78, 1882-84 and 1885.
BELL, DR. ROBT., I.S.O., etc.—Reports on Hudson bay and some of the
lakes and rivers lying west of it. Report Progress Geological Survey of
Canada, 1879-80, pp. 10-113-C. Queen’s Printer, Ottawa, 1881.
BELL, DR. ROBT., I.S.O., etc.—“The Geology of the Hudson’s Bay and
Strait,” in the report of the Hudson’s Bay Expedition, 1885. Department
of Marine, Ottawa.
BELL, DR. ROBERT, I.S.O., etc.—“Geology and Economic Minerals of
Hudson’s Bay and Northern Canada,” (abstract) in Trans. Royal Soc. Can.,
vol. ii, sect. iv., p. 241, Ottawa.
BELL, DR. ROBERT, I.S.O., etc.—“Report on an Exploration of Portions of
the Attawapiskat and Albany rivers, Lonely lake to James’ bay.” Part G.,
Annual Report Geol. Survey, 1886. Dawson Bros., Montreal, 1887.
BERNIER, CAPTAIN J. E.—“Report on the Dominion of Canada Government
Expedition to the Arctic Islands and Hudson Strait on Board the D.G.S.
‘Arctic.’” Ottawa, Government Printing Bureau, 1910.
BOULTON, MAJOR C. A.—“Reminiscences of the Northwest Rebellions.” Grip
Printing and Publishing Co., Toronto, 1886.
BROWN, HON. C.P.—“Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative
Assembly of the Province of Manitoba appointed to Procure Evidence as to
the Practicability of the Establishment of a System of Communication
with the Province via Hudson Bay”. Printed by order of the Legislative
Assembly. Winnipeg, 1884.
BRYMNER, DOUGLAS—“Reports on Canadian Archives for 1888 and 1890,”
Notes E. and C., respectively. Queen’s Printer, Ottawa.
BUTLER, CAPTAIN W. F., F.R.G.S.—“The Great Lone Land; a Narrative of
Travel and Adventure in the Northwest of America.” London, 1872.
CHAMBERS, CAPTAIN E. J.—“The Book of Canada.” Montreal and Toronto,
1905.
CHAMBERS, CAPTAIN E. J.—“The Royal Northwest Mounted Police. (A Corps
History)” The Mortimer Press, Montreal and Ottawa, 1906.
CHAMBERS, CAPTAIN E. J.—“Canada’s Fertile Northland.” Containing the
evidence heard before the Select Committee of the Senate of Canada of
1906-07 and the report based thereon. Ottawa, Government Printing
Bureau. 1907. Several later editions. The last under the title “The New
Northwest.”
CHAMBERS, CAPTAIN E. J.—“The Great Mackenzie Basin.” A Summary of the
Reports of the Schultz Committees of the Senate of Canada (1887-88) and
of the evidence heard before said Committees.” Ottawa, Government
Printing Bureau, 1908.
COUES, ELLIOTT.—“New Light on the Early History of the Greater
Northwest. The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry, Fur Trader of the
Northwest Company and of David Thompson, Official Geographer and
Explorer of the same Company, 1799-1814,” in three volumes. Francis P.
Harper, New York, 1897.
CREAN, FRANK J. P., C.E., F.R.G.S.—“The New Northwest. Report of
Exploration.” Government Printing Bureau, Ottawa, 1908. Second edition,
1909.
DAWSON, G. M., D.S., F.G.S., F.R.S.C., etc.—“Notes to accompany a
Geological Map of the Northern portion of the Dominion of Canada, East
of the Rocky Mountains,” Queen’s Printer, Ottawa, 1887.
DAWSON, G. M., F.G.S., etc.—Numerous reports in the annual reports of
the Geological Survey of Canada. King’s Printer, Ottawa.
DAWSON, G. M., D.S., F.G.S., etc.—“On some of the larger unexplored
regions of Canada.” Paper contributed to the Ottawa Field Naturalists’
Club.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR—“Annual Reports,” more particularly 1884,
1888, 1889, 1892 (Sessional paper No. 13, Vol. VII,) 1900-01 (Sessional
paper No. 25, Part III, Appendix 26 to Surveyor General’s report), 1903
(Summary of the Reports on Peace river). King’s Printer, Government
Printing Bureau, Ottawa.
DICKSON, J. R., B.S.A., M.S.F.—“Report on Timber Conditions, etc.,
along the proposed route of the Hudson Bay Railway.” Forestry
Branch—Bulletin No. 17. Government Printing Bureau, Ottawa, 1911.
DOBBS, ARTHUR—“Account of the Situation, Climate and Trade of the
Countries adjoining to Hudson’s Bay, etc.” London, 1744.
DODDS, JAMES—“The Hudson’s Bay Company, its Position and Prospects.”
London, 1866.
DOWLING, D. B., B. Ap. Sc.—“Report on the Country in the vicinity of
Red Lake and Part of the Basin of Berens River, Keewatin.” Part F.,
Annual Report (Vol. VII), Geological Survey of Canada. Queen’s Printer,
Ottawa, 1896.
DOWLING, D. B., B. Ap. Sc.—“Report on an Exploration of Ekwan river,
Sutton Mill lakes and part of the West Coast of James’ Bay.” (Annual
Report Geol. Sur. of Canada, 1901, Part F., Vol. XIV, New Series).
King’s Printer, Ottawa.
DOWLING, D. B.—“Report on the Geology of the West Shore and Islands of
Lake Winnipeg.” (Geol. Survey report for 1898, Vol. XI). Government
Printing Bureau, Ottawa, 1901.
DOWLING, D. B.—“Report on the East Shore of Lake Winnipeg and Adjacent
Parts of Manitoba and Keewatin. From notes and Surveys by J. B.
Tyrrell.” (Geol. Survey report for 1898, Vol. XI). Government Printing
Bureau, Ottawa, 1901.
DOWLING, D. B.—“Report on Geological Explorations in Athabaska,
Saskatchewan and Keewatin Districts.” Part F. F., Annual Report (Vol.
XIII), Geological Survey of Canada, King’s Printer, Ottawa, 1902.
DOWLING, D. B.—“Report on an Exploration of Ekwan River and Sutton Mill
Lakes and Part of the West Coast of James’ bay.” Part F., Annual Report
(Vol. XIV), Geological Survey of Canada, King’s Printer, Ottawa, 1904.
FRANKLIN, CAPTAIN JOHN, R.N., F.R.S.—“Narrative of a Journey on the
shores of the Polar Sea, in the years 1819-20-21 and -22.” Zoological
Appendix; Mammals and Birds, by Joseph Sabine; Notice of the fishes,
Botanical Appendix, by John Richardson. London, 1823.
FRANKLIN, CAPTAIN JOHN, R.N., F.R.S., etc.—“Narrative of a Second
Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea in the years 1825, 1826 and
1827.” London, 1828.
FISHER, HON. SYDNEY—“Some Economic Aspects of Agriculture in Canada.”
Address before the Canadian Club, Ottawa, Jan. 22, 1910.
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA—“Annual Reports,” more particularly the
following: 1872, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1884, 1886 (Part R), 1888 (Vol. XI,
part A), 1890-91 (Vol. V., part D), 1894 (Vol. VII, part A), 1896 (Vol.
IX, part F), 1897 (Vol. X, part A), 1900 (Vol. XIII), 1901 (Vol. VIII,
part D). King’s Printer, Government Printing Bureau, Ottawa.
GRANT, GEORGE M.—“Ocean to Ocean, Sandford Fleming’s Expedition through
Canada in 1872. Being a diary kept during a journey from the Atlantic to
the Pacific with the Expedition of the Engineer-in-Chief of the Canadian
Pacific and Intercolonial Railways.” London, 1877, and Belford Bros.,
Toronto.
HANBURY, DAVID T.—“Sport and Travel in the Northland of Canada.” New
York, The Macmillan Company. London, Edward Arnold. 1904.
HARMON, DANIEL WILLIAMS—“A Journal of voyage and travel in the Interior
of North America. Between the 47th and 58th Degrees of N. Lat. extending
from Montreal nearly to the Pacific, a distance of about 5,000 miles.
Including an account of the principal occurrences during a residence of
nineteen years in different parts of the country.” By Daniel Williams
Harmon, a partner in the Northwest Company. With introduction and Map.
Andover, 1820.
HARRISON, ALFRED H.—“In Search of a Polar Continent.” London, 1908.
HEARNE, SAMUEL—“A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort in Hudson’s Bay to
the Northern Ocean. Undertaken by Order of the Hudson’s Bay Company for
the discovery of Copper Mines, a North West Passage, etc., in the years
of 1769, 1770, 1771 and 1772.” London, 1795. Dublin, 1796. London, 1807.
HECTOR, JAMES, M.D.—“Physical Features of the Central part of British
North America,” in Edinburgh “New Philosophical Journal,” 1866.
HEER, PROF. O.—“On the Miocene Plants discovered on the Mackenzie
River,” Proc. Royal Soc., London, Vol. XXX, 1880.
HENRY, ALEXANDER—“Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian
Territories.” New York, 1809.
HIND, HENRY YOULE, M.A., F.R.G.S.—(Professor of Chemistry and Geology
in the University of Trinity College, Toronto, in charge of the
Assiniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition.)—“Narrative of the Canadian
Red River Exploring Expedition of 1857, and of the Assiniboine and
Saskatchewan exploring Expedition of 1857.” In two Volumes. London,
1860.
HOOPER, W. H.—“Ten Months among the Tents of the Tuski, with incidents
of an Arctic Boat Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin as far as
the Mackenzie river, and Cape Bathurst.” London, 1853.
HORETZKY, CHARLES—“Canada on the Pacific.” Montreal, 1874.
ISBISTER, A. K.—“Some Account of Peel River, North America.” Journ.
Royal Geol. Soc., London, Vol. XV. 1845.
ISBISTER, A. K.—“On the Geology of the Hudson’s Bay Territories and of
Portions of the Arctic and Northwest Regions of America”, Quart. Journ.
Geol. Soc., Vol. XI in Am. Journ. Sci. and Arts. Second series, col.
XXI, 1856.
LAUT, AGNES C.—“The End of the Free Land.” Canadian Collier’s, Jan. 14,
1911.
LOW, A. P., B.Sc., F.R.G.S.—“Preliminary Report on an Exploration of
Country between Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay.” Part F., Annual Report
Geol. Survey, 1886. Dawson Brothers, Montreal, 1887.
LOW, A. P., B.Sc., F.R.G.S.—“The Cruise of the Neptune,” Dominion
Government Expedition to Hudson bay and the Arctic Islands on Board the
D.G.S. “Neptune,” 1903-1904. Ottawa, Government Printing Bureau, 1906.
MACBETH, REV. R. G., M.A.—“The Making of the Canadian West.” Wm.
Briggs, Toronto, 1905.
MACKRAY, REV. ROBERT.—“Life of Robert Mackray, D.D., LL.D., D.C.L.,
Archbishop of Rupert’s Land, Primate of All Canada, etc., etc.” The
Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd, Toronto, 1909.
MACKENZIE, ALEXANDER.—“Voyages from Montreal, on the River St.
Lawrence, through the Continent of North America, to the Frozen and
Pacific Oceans; in the years 1789 and 1793. With a preliminary account
of the rise, progress and present state of the Fur Trade of that
country.” London, 1801.
MACOUN, PROF. JOHN, M.A.—“Report of Professor Macoun, Botanist to the
Expedition,” addressed to Alfred R. C. Selwyn. (Accompanying a report by
Selwyn entitled “Report on Exploration in British Columbia”). Report
Progress Geological Survey of Canada, 1875-76, pp. 110-232. Montreal,
1877.
MACOUN, PROF. JOHN, M.A.—“Manitoba and the Great Northwest.” London,
1882.
MACOUN, PROF. JOHN, M.A., F.R.S.C.—“The Forests of Canada and their
Distribution.” 1895.
MAIR, CHARLES.—“Through the Mackenzie Basin, a Narrative of the
Athabaska and Peace river Treaty Expedition of 1899.” Simpkin, Marshall,
Hamilton, Kent & Co., Limited, Toronto, 1908.
MCCONNELL, R. G., B.A.—“Report on explorations in the Mackenzie Basin.”
(Part D, Annual Report, Vol. IV, Geol. Survey of Canada, 1888-89).
Queen’s Printer, Ottawa.
MCCONNELL, R. G., B.A.—“Report on a Portion of the District of
Athabaska, Comprising the Country Between Peace river and Athabaska
river, North of Lesser Slave lake.” (Appendix D. to annual report of the
Geological Survey of Canada, 1890-1891). Ottawa.
MCINNES, WM.—“Report on a Part of the Northwest Territories Drained by
the Winisk and Attawapiskat Rivers.” Geol. Survey Report No. 1008.
Government Printing Bureau, Ottawa, 1910.
MCKENNA, J. A. J.—“The Hudson Bay Route; A Compilation of Facts with
Conclusions.” Government Printing Bureau, Ottawa, 1908.
MCLEOD, MALCOLM.—“Peace River. A canoe voyage from Hudson’s Bay to
Pacific. By the late Sir George Simpson, Governor Hudson’s Bay Company
in 1828. Journal of the late Chief Factor, Archibald McDonald (Hudson’s
Bay Company) who accompanied him.” Edited, with Notes, by Malcolm
McLeod, Barrister, etc. Ottawa, Published by J. Durie and Son. Montreal,
Dawson Brothers. Toronto, Adam Stevinson and Company. 1872.
MEEK, F. B. (Chicago Academy of Sciences).—“Remarks on the Geology of
the Mackenzie river, with Figures and Descriptions of Fossils from the
Region, in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, etc.” Chicago,
1868.
MILTON AND CHEADLE, (Viscount Milton, M.P., and W. B. Cheadle, M.A.,
M.D.). “The Northwest Passage by Land; a Narrative of an Expedition from
the Atlantic to the Pacific.” London, 1864.
M’LEAN, JOHN.—“Notes of a Twenty-five years’ Service in the Hudson’s
Bay Territory.” Two vols. London, 1849.
MORGAN, HENRY J.—“Sketches of Celebrated Canadians and Persons
connected with Canada from the Earliest Period in the History of the
Province Down to the Present Time.” Hunter, Rose & Co., London, 1862.
MULVANEY, DR. CHARLES P.—“The History of the Northwest Rebellion of
1885.” A. H. Hovey & Co., Toronto, 1886.
NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF MONTREAL.—“Canadian Record of Science.”
Various volumes, particularly that of 1890, (Vol. IV). Montreal, 1891.
OGILVIE, WILLIAM, D.L.S.—“Exploratory Survey of Part of the Lewes,
Tat-On-Duc, Porcupine, Bell, Trout, Peel, and Mackenzie rivers,
1887-1888.” Report of the Department of the Interior, 1890. Sessional
Papers, Vol. 11, 4th session of the 6th parliament. Queen’s Printer,
Ottawa.
OGILVIE, WILLIAM, D.L.S.—“Report on the Peace river and Tributaries, in
1891.” Annual report of the Department of the Interior for the Year
1892. Sessional Papers 1893, Vol. VIII. Queen’s Printer, Ottawa.
PAGET, AMELIA M.—“The People of the Plains.” Toronto, William Briggs,
1909.
PALLISER, CAPTAIN R. A.—“Exploration—British North America. The
Journals, Detailed Reports, and Observances Relative to the Exploration
by Captain Palliser, of That Portion of British North America which in
latitude lies between the British Boundary Line and Height of Land or
Watershed of the Northern or Frozen Ocean Respectively. And in
Longitude, between the western shore of Lake Superior and the Pacific
Ocean, during the years 1857, 1858, 1859 and 1860.” Presented to both
Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty, May 19th, 1863. London,
Printed by George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode. Printers to the
Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
PETITOT, REV. EMILE.—“Géographie de l’Athabaska-Mackenzie et des Grands
Lacs du Bassin Artique, par l’Abbé E. Petitot.” Bulletin de la Société
de Géographie, Paris, tome X, 1875.
PETITOT, REV. E.—“Autour du Grand Lac des Esclaves.” Paris, 1891.
PETITOT, REV. E.—“Explorations de la Région du Grand Lac des Ours,
etc.” Paris, 1893.
PIKE, WARBURTON.—“The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada.” London,
Macmillan and Co., 1892.
PREBLE, EDWARD A., (U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of
Biological Survey.)—“North American Fauna, No. 27. A Biological
investigation of the Athabaska-Mackenzie Region.” Prepared under the
Direction of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Chief of Bureau of Biological Survey.
Washingston, U. S. A., Government Printing Office, Oct. 26, 1908.
RAE, DR. JOHN.—“Narrative of an Expedition to the Shores of the Arctic
Sea in 1846-47.” London, 1850.
RAE, DR. JOHN.—“Journey from Great Bear Lake to Wollaston Lake, and
Explorations along the South and East coast of Victoria Land.” Journals
of the Royal Geog. Soc., Vol. XXII, pp. 73 to 82. 1852.
RAE, DR. JOHN.—“Recent Explorations along the South and East Coast of
Victoria Land.” Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc., Vol. XXII, pp. 82-96. Being Dr.
Rea’s official report to the Hudson’s Bay Company, communicated by them
to the Royal Geographical Society, concerning his expedition by boat
from Coppermine River eastward along the Arctic Coast and on the coast
of Victoria Land in the summer of 1851.
RATTRAY, J., B.A.—“The Scot in British North America.” Toronto, 1883.
RICHARDSON, SIR JOHN.—“Arctic Searching Expedition, a Journal of a Boat
Voyage through Rupert’s Land and the Arctic Sea.” London, 1851.
ROBSON, JOSEPH.—“An Account of Six Years’ Residence in Hudson’s Bay
from 1733 to 1736, and 1744 to 1747.” London, 1752.
ROBSON, W. T. (General Advertising Agent, C. P. Ry.)—“The value of The
Tourist Sportsman as a means of Publicity for Undeveloped Country.”
Montreal, 1910.
ROSS, SIR JOHN.—“A Voyage of Discovery, for the Purpose of Exploring
Baffin’s Bay, etc.” London, 1819. (Geological Appendix by Dr.
McCulloch.)
ROYAL NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE.—“Annual Reports.” King’s Printer,
Government Printing Bureau, Ottawa.
ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA.—“Transactions”, particularly Vol. 11, Section
IV. Ottawa.
SCHROTER, C.—“Note on the Microscopic Examination of some Fossil Woods
from the Mackenzie River,” by C. Schroter, Proc. Royal Soc. London, Vol.
XXXI, 1881.
SENATE OF CANADA.—“Appendix to the Journals for 1870 (33 Victoria).”
Report of Rupert’s Land Select Committee. Queen’s Printer, Ottawa, 1870.
SENATE OF CANADA.—“Appendices to the Journals for 1887 and 1888.”
(evidence taken before select committees). “Appendix to the Journals for
1907,” (evidence taken before select committee). King’s Printer, Ottawa.
SIMPSON, SIR GEORGE.—“Narrative of a Journey Round the World during the
years 1841 and 1842.” London, 1847.
SIMPSON, THOMAS.—“Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of
America; effected by the officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company during the
years 1836-39.” London, 1843.
STRANGE, LORD.—In the name of this nobleman was presented to the
Parliament of Great Britain the “Report from the Committee appointed to
inquire into the State and Condition of the Countries Adjoining to
Hudson’s Bay and the Trade carried on there.” London, 1749.
TUTTLE, CHARLES R.—“A Narrative of the Hudson Bay Expedition of 1884.”
Toronto, 1885.
TYRRELL, JOSEPH BURR, C.E., M.A., F.G.S., etc.—“A Brief Narrative of
the Journeys of David Thompson.” Proc. Canadian Institute, 1887-88, 3rd
series, Vol. VI.
TYRRELL, J. BURR, C.E., F.G.S., etc.—“Report on the Country between
Athabaska river and Churchill river, by J. Burr Tyrrell, assisted by D.
B. Dowling in 1892, to which is added a survey of the north shore of
Lake Athabaska, made in the summer of 1893.” Annual report, Geol.
Survey, for 1893. King’s Printer, Ottawa, 1894.
TYRRELL, J. BURR, C.E., F.G.S., etc.—“Report on the Dubawnt, Kazan and
Ferguson rivers and the Northwest Coast of Hudson Bay.” Part F., Vol.
IX. Reports of the Geological Survey of Canada, 1896. King’s Printer,
Ottawa, 1897.
TYRRELL, J. BURR, M.A., B.Sc., F.G.S., etc.—“Natural Resources of the
Barren Lands.” Paper before the British Association, Toronto, 1897.
Published in full in the Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1899.
TYRRELL, J. BURR, M.A., B.Sc., F.G.S., etc.—“Report on Explorations in
the Northwestern Portion of the District of Saskatchewan and Adjacent
Parts of the District of Keewatin.” Part F., Annual Report (Vol. XIII),
Geological Survey of Canada. King’s Printer, Ottawa, 1902.
TYRRELL, JAMES W., D.L.S.—“Exploratory Survey between Great Slave lake
and Hudson Bay.” Appendix No. 26 to the Report of the Surveyor General.
Sessional Papers, 1902, Vol. 10. King’s Printer, Ottawa, 1902.
TYRRELL, JAMES W., C.E., D.L.S.—“Across the Sub-Arctics of Canada.”
William Briggs. Toronto. Last (revised) edition, 1908.
WESTMINSTER REVIEW.—Anonymous Article in July volume, 1867, entitled
“The Last Great Monopoly.” London.
WHITE, JAMES, F.R.C.S., F.R.G.S., (Secretary of Conservation
Commission).—“Place Names of Northern Canada.” Ottawa, 1910.
WILSON, ALFRED W. G.—“Report on a Traverse through the Southern Part of
the Northwest Territories from Lac Seul to Cat Lake in 1902.” Geol.
Survey Report No. 1006. Government Printing Bureau, Ottawa, 1910.
YOUNG, R. E., D.L.S.—“Evidence before the Select Standing Committee of
Forests, Waterways and Water Powers of the House of Commons.”
Parliamentary Paper. Government Printing Bureau, Ottawa, 1909.
YOUNG, R. E., D.L.S.—“Evidence on ‘Canada’s Fertile Northland’ before
the Select Standing Committee of the House of Commons on Agriculture and
Colonization.” Parliamentary Paper. Government Printing Bureau, Ottawa,
1909.
YOUNG, R. E., D.L.S—“The New North West.” Pamphlet, 1910.
INDEX
Agnooski and Winisk rivers, description of country between, 55
Agricultural country, rich, north of lake Winnipeg, 44-45
Agricultural Experiments, early, and their success, 30
Agricultural land, good, around head of lake Winnipeg, 58
Agricultural possibilities of the country south of Reed and Wuskwatim
lakes, 53
of the country from Prince Albert to Fort Pitt, 97-98
at Ile à la Crosse, 98
at Lac la Ronge, 100-102
around Deer lake, 106
at Methye lake, 108-109
in Green lake district, 112-113
at Chipewyan, 133
at Baptiste lake, 135
at Calling river, 136
at McMurray, 136
at Chipewyan, 137
around Cowpar lake, 137-138
in country west of Methye and Buffalo lakes and south of Clearwater
river, 137-138
around Heart lake, 138
around Winefred lake, 138
in Peace river country, 144
at Fort Vermilion, 147-148
at Red River fort, 148
at Fort St. John, 150
at Dunvegan, 150-154
at Grand Prairie, 155-156
at Fort Vermilion, 157, 163-164
around Edmonton, 166-167
of Mackenzie river region, 208, 219
Alluvium on banks of Great Slave lake, 283
Alsop, Enoch, testimony of, 33
Anderson river, basin of, 277
fairly well wooded, 277
Animals, fur-bearing, in Keewatin area, 88
about Winisk and Attawapiskat rivers, 91
in the area south of Cross lake, 92
at Churchill, 93
of Clearwater country, 127
in the far northwest, 127-128
in the country between Churchill river and lake Athabaska, 128-129
Arable Land of Mackenzie river region, 208
Arctic grayling in Peace region, 296
Armstrong, Mr. John, report of, on the preliminary survey of 1908 and 1909
for the proposed railway to Hudson Bay, 60
on the preliminary surveys for the Hudson Bay railway, 87
Artillery lake, 309
Aspen:—(‘Trembling-leaved Poplar’), 65
Asphalt on Great Slave lake, 283
Athabaska lake, 116
timber on the shores of, 123
minerals near lake, 124
evidence of Archbishop Clut before the Senate Committee of 1888 as to
minerals in country northwest of, 125-126
Athabaska river and tributaries, 131-132
basin, Sir John Franklin’s report of the agricultural possibilities of,
133
valley, climate conditions in various parts of, 141-142
water power on, 177
iron found on, 181
general description, 245
summers very hot on, 245
timber, 261
water power along river, 262
country has fine balsam poplar, 268
petroleum, 282
moose, 290
woodland caribou, 291
fish, 299
Attawapiskat river, 66-67
Attawapiskat and Winisk rivers, basins of the, 70-71
Attawapiskat and Winisk rivers, fish of, 91
Aylmer lake, 311
Back, Captain, explorations of, 13, 14
impression of the view from the heights above the Clearwater at Methye
portage, 118
report on timber of Reindeer lake, 267
Back’s grayling in the tributaries of Peace river in Rocky mountains, 204
“Balsam Fir” also called “Single Spruce” and “Silver Pine”, 65
Baptiste lake, agricultural possibilities of, 135
Barley and oats grown at Chipewyan settlement on Buffalo river, 108
Barren Lands, the, area comprised in, 29
topography, soil, climate, flora, 303
tree growth and timber resources, 317
Battle river, gold found in the bars above the mouth of, 180
Bears, white, in the northern part of Hudson bay and black in southern
part, 89
Bear and Moose along Lockhart river, 291
Bear river, birch on, 277
gypsum, 282
Bear lake settlement, 171
Beaver plentiful along Clearwater valley, 130
Beech, Mr. William, description of, of the country around Hudson bay and
at Churchill, 63
of the timber resources of Hudson bay region, 79-80
of the water power available in Hudson bay region, 80
of fish and animals at Churchill, 93-94
Bell, Doctor Robert, F.G.S., F.R.S.C., exploratory trips of, 17, 18
report of his exploratory trip from lake Winnipeg to Hudson bay in 1878,
37, 38
testimony before the Senate Committee of 1887, 38
report of his explorations in the valleys of Nelson and Churchill rivers
in 1879, 65-66
1886 report, 66
before Senate Committee of 1887, 82
description of the rocks of the eastern part of lake St. Joseph, 82
1886 report as to fish, animals and game in Keewatin area, 88
evidence before the Senate Committee of 1887 as to fish, animals and
game in Keewatin area, 88-89
evidence before the Senate Committee of 1887 as to agriculture in
Athabaska district, 134-135
opinion of the tar sands in Athabaska river in his paper before the
American Institute of Engineers, Toronto, in 1907, 187
Bell, James Macintosh, F.R.G.S., exploratory trips of, 21
description of country along Martin river, 266
description of Great Bear river, 271
fine timber at Keith bay, 275
Birch, 122
canoe birch at Fort Rae, 266
grown within Arctic circle, 274
on Bear river, 277
Bituminous Spring on Cree river, 126
Bitumen from Fort Providence to Chipewyan, 285
Black bay on lake Athabaska, galena found at, 181
Bompas, the Right Reverend, opinion of, of the soil in Peace river
country, 145-146
Boulder river, timber along, 66
Bredin, W. F., Esq., evidence of, before the Senate Committee of 1907, 104
evidence before the Senate Committee of 1907 as to tar sands on Buffalo
lake, 126
as to agriculture in Athabaska district, 137
as to agriculture in Peace river country, 165-167
as to the natural gas along Athabaska river, 193
Brick, Reverend J. Gough, evidence of, before the Senate Committee, as to
agriculture and climate in Peace river country, 161-162
British North America Act, 1
Brock, Mr. R. W., opinion of, of petroleum and natural gas in northern
Alberta, 194
of coal deposits, 286
Browne, Alexander, evidence of, on the mineral resources of the country
around Hudson bay, 81
Buffalo lake tar sands, 126
Burntwood river, timber along, 72