CHAPTER VI

More About the Slave River : On SteamerWrigley: Fine Gardens at Resolution : A Nasty Experience : Bishop Reeves Comes Aboard for a Round Trip : Miss Wilgriss Leaves : Hay River : Fort Prudence : The Little Lake : Fort Simpson : A Pathetic Incident : An Imaginary Cabinet : We Reach Fort Wrigley.

Thecargo having all been carted over the portage and loaded on theWrigleyand her consorts, we left Fort Smith at 3.15P.M., Mountain or Pacific time, on this last stage of our journey to Fort McPherson, in round numbers, 1300 miles distant. The day was cloudy and quite cool. We were at last clear of all obstructions to navigation. Throughout the whole remaining distance there would also be very little darkness, and the steamer was to run both night and day. The country becomes more level than above the rapids. The banks at first thirty or forty feet high become gradually lower with the descent of the river, and the soil reveals a rich alluvialdeposit, similar in appearance to that of the Western prairies. We passed Salt River at 5.30P.M.and Bell Rock a little after, and later Gravel Point, where we saw the last gravel to be met with on these waters.

Thursday, July 12.The boat ran all night and at 8.30A.M.we were well down the river, being opposite McConnell Island. After leaving Fort Smith the river expands to probably an average width of a mile and a half, in some places much more, with numerous islands on the way. As it widens out the current decreases and the soil held in solution yields to the law of gravity and is deposited, forming numerous islands all the way to the lake. The earth, that once rested securely along the present course of “the Peace” before the waters from the mountains found their way in that direction and commenced that great excavation, is here found in these islands, and the newly formed land that is pushing the southern shore line of Great Slave Lake near the mouth of this river, farther and farther north. How applicable to this situation are the words of Tennyson:

LEAVING FORT SMITH ON THE SLAVE RIVER

“The sound of streams that swift or slowDraw down Æonian hills, and sowThe dust of continents to be.”

“The sound of streams that swift or slow

Draw down Æonian hills, and sow

The dust of continents to be.”

The land falls gradually away till it is submerged. Islands innumerable have been formed while others in embryo exist in the sand bars extending for long distances in the neighbourhood of the channel. It was difficult to follow the outlet and we grounded several times after we were well into the lake. However, by appliances peculiar to such navigation, we finally got into deep water, and an hour’s run brought us to a fine bay on the shore of which we beheld another whitewashed village with a hundred or more Indian lodges in the foreground. This was Fort Resolution, and the lodges were the temporary habitations of the Chippewyan and Slavey Indians, who were assembled here for the payment of “treaty,” as they call it, that is to say, the Federal Government’s grant to Indian tribes. It was late in the afternoon when we entered the lake. We lost two or three hours on the sand bars and another in putting on wood, so that when we went ashore at Resolution, itwas near eleven o’clock at night. I remember thinking that we would have to make our journey short so as to get back before dark; but what with a visit to the tent of Indian Commissioner Conroy and Dr. West, and the exchange of information from outside which we possessed, for that of the interior which they could furnish, and with a visit to the Indian camps, I was astonished to find that we had passed from one day into another without having experienced any intervening night. A dull twilight was giving way to a bright dawn as we went aboard our ship after midnight. This was the beginning of constant daylight, that remained with us for several weeks.

I noticed some very well cultivated gardens at Resolution, containing most of the vegetables we would find in the gardens of Eastern Canada—potatoes, turnips, peas, cabbage, beets, etc. The potatoes were particularly good, and so far advanced that by August 1 they would certainly be fit for use. There were no evidences either that the “potato bug” had yet visited this district.

FORT RESOLUTION ON GREAT SLAVE LAKE

We had before us, between here and Hay River, a large sheet of open water of overseventy miles to traverse, and delays are frequently experienced here, especially when a steamer has, as in our case, several heavily-laden scows in tow.

We left Resolution at 2 o’clock on the morning of July 13, but had soon to seek shelter under an island and wait for the sea to subside, which it did sufficiently to allow us to start again about 4P.M., but for several hours it seemed doubtful if one of the scows which was leaking badly could be kept afloat till we should reach Hay River, and we were glad to find when we arose in the morning that the crew of the leaky craft had been rewarded for their toil. She was among the other boats lying along the bank, and without showing much damage either to the scow itself or to the cargo. The latter was much the more important, as it contained food and other necessities brought such long distances and at such great expense, and besides there were anxious men, women, and children in far outlying posts in this great wilderness, whose very existence depended on supplies reaching them in good condition.

Awakening early in the morning and beforethe crew or inhabitants of the village had risen, I walked up the bank of the river, and finding a sandy beach was soon enjoying a bath. While engaged in this luxury, I noticed that I had attracted the attention of half a dozen rather large-sized and very hungry-looking husky dogs, that came rushing down the bank barking furiously, evidently thinking me a legitimate object of prey. In the whole course of my journey this is the only instance where I was the subject of an attack of any kind, and I must confess I felt greatly alarmed as I realised my situation, and cannot help thinking that had it not been for some Indians, the owners of the dogs, suddenly appearing in a canoe around a point in the river, paddling quickly to my rescue, the consequences might have been serious. The hungry creatures probably thought I was some animal from the forest who was trying to escape them by swimming the river.

Bishop Reeve, of the Anglican Diocese of the Mackenzie River, came aboard at Hay River for a round trip to McPherson and return, and Miss Wilgriss left us to resume her position at the Mission here. We were all impressed with the zeal of this lady in herwork, which is certainly one of self-sacrificing devotion to a great cause.

DOG-RIBBED INDIANS ON GREAT SLAVE LAKE

Hay River is a stream of considerable size which enters Great Slave Lake from the west at a distance of some forty miles south of the entrance to the Mackenzie.

The morning was fine. The wind had subsided, and the great lake, which serves as a filtering basin for the turbid waters entering it from the Slave River, was here as clear as that of the great inland lakes of Eastern Canada—Huron, Erie or Ontario. Wherever a river contains muddy water, you may at once conclude that it has no large lake expansions above it. In nearly every stream pouring its waters into the great clear water lakes of the St. Lawrence basin the water is dark and more or less impure; very different both in quality and appearance from that which it assumes after having had a little time to settle. This is, of course, due to the process of precipitation which the river currents have previously prevented. The Saskatchewan, the Missouri and the Mississippi are streams whose waters are similar in appearance to that of the “Yellow Tiber” at Rome. So, also, are those of the Columbiaand the Fraser of the Pacific slope, and in each case you will search in vain for any large lake expansions in their courses.

A few hours’ run brought us to a bay with many islands, which gradually contracted to a width of two or three miles and we now had entered the great river, the Mackenzie, into which all the waters we had traversed flow. No more delays were now anticipated, no lakes to cross, no rapids to encounter, and no darkness to delay us on our course for the rest of our journey, a thousand miles in all, to the delta of the Mackenzie.

Great Slave Lake impresses the visitor by its size, which approximates to that of the great lakes of Eastern Canada. For some time we were entirely out of sight of land. There is a bar at the mouth of the river which our steamer struck once or twice as she also did in two or three other places farther down.

After passing what might be called the entrance, the river widens out into expansions which deserve and receive the distinction of lakes. Islands covered with green timber are numerous, and the appearance is suggestive of the lower St.Lawrence. We had some difficulty in following the channel at the mouth of one of these expansions, named Beaver Lake, where we grounded twice on a soft bottom. This did no damage to the steamer but caused us several hours’ delay.

The blowing of the whistle of theWrigleyearly on Sunday morning of July 15 announced that we were approaching Fort Providence, and as the boat rounded an island in the river, exclamations of astonishment at the beauty of the picture that lay before us were heard on every hand. There on the right bank of the river, its waters as clear as those of the St. Lawrence, lay a village, so strikingly similar in appearance to those along that familiar stream that we could almost forget the long distances we had journeyed and fancy ourselves approaching one of the parishes of old Quebec. The church bells were ringing out a call to the Sunday morning service. The convent hard by was decorated with flags betokening some joyful occasion, while the Indian pupils in their pretty costumes accompanied by their teachers, the sisters of the Mission, lined the bank to welcome the founder of theschool, Sister Ward, of Montreal, who had accompanied us this far.

This devoted woman first went into the country upwards of forty years ago, where she became instrumental in organising this and several other schools during a residence there of more than thirty years. She was at this time making a visit of inspection to them, intending to return before the season closed, to the home of her novitiate, the Convent of the Grey Nuns of Montreal.

The banks of the river here are about thirty feet high. The land is level and the soil a rich clay loam, and this is the general character of the soil along the whole of this great river. In the Mission garden here were found at this time peas fit for use, potatoes in blossom, tomatoes, rhubarb, beets, cabbages, onions, in fact about the same type of kitchen garden as would be seen a thousand miles farther south. Besides the vegetables, were cultivated flowers and also fruit such as red currants, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries and saskatoons, and more surprising still, near by, was a small field of wheat in the milk, the grain being fully formed, the seed of which had been sown onMay 20. I was anxious to know whether this grain would ripen, and was fortunate enough to learn later from one of the passengers, who, returning by theWrigley, visited this field again on July 28, that it had been harvested before the latter date, probably about two months after the sowing. This seems almost incredible to those who live in lower latitudes, but when we remember that during this whole period the earth had been subjected to almost constant sunlight and heat, coupled with constant moisture from the frozen ground beneath, the reason for its rapid, hot house growth is obvious.

FORT PROVIDENCE ON THE MACKENZIE RIVER

Leaving Fort Providence at 10.40A.M.we soon entered “The Little Lake,” one of the numerous expansions of the Upper Mackenzie, and at 10P.M.reached a point known as “The End of the Line,” so named from being the place where the boatmen coming up the river could dispense with the tracking line. As the river widens above this point, the current decreases so that boats and canoes can be propelled without outside assistance, while below here till the river widens again near its mouth, a distance of over 800 miles, the current istoo strong for the general use of oar or paddle, and the line is necessary for the greater part of the distance. With no interruption from rapids or delay from darkness and assisted by the current, we reached Fort Simpson on the following morning at seven o’clock, the run from Providence, 161 miles distant, having been made in about twenty hours.

Fort Simpson is 1078 miles distant by the route we had taken from Athabaska Landing or 1175 miles from Edmonton. The latitude is 61° 52´ N.; in other words it is 900 miles due north of the international boundary. It is prettily situated on the left bank of the Mackenzie just below the mouth of the Liard. Evidently the waters of the latter stream have no filtering basin such as the Mackenzie has in Great Slave Lake, for instead of the clear waters through which we have passed so far on the Mackenzie, we see this great tributary coming from the west carrying down a segregated mixture of water and yellow soil which perceptibly changes the colour of the Mackenzie from here all the way to its mouth. We saw no more the clear sparkling waters of a greenishblue, so similar to that of the ocean, that had been before our eyes for the last 300 miles. The banks of the river at Fort Simpson are about thirty feet high and the stream here must be at least two miles wide.

Though the hour of our arrival was early, the bank was lined with the men, women and children of the village, all apparently delighted to see again the return of theWrigley. Among others I noticed a well-dressed white man hurrying down from the Hudson Bay Company’s store, evidently looking for some one among the passengers. Though I had never seen him before, I at once surmised that this was Charlie Christie, whose wife was buried at Edmonton a few days before our departure. During the whole of our journey the thought of the message we were carrying to the expectant husband was ever with us, and the nearer we approached his home, the sadder seemed this message. How the information was to be broken to him had been talked over many times, but with his hurried steps up the gang plank and eager inquiry if his wife were aboard, evidently disappointed at not seeing her among the passengers, all planswere forgotten and the answer to his inquiry was in a few words which, though uttered in a sympathetic tone, went like a bullet to the heart of the poor man who had waited through the long months of the former autumn, winter and spring for the return of the mother of his children. Such is one of the tragic phases of life in this wilderness.

I have mentioned that Fort Simpson is about 900 miles in a due course north of the international boundary, and I repeat it in connection with the fact that the great staple of our north-west possessions is grown here, to a sufficient extent to show that we may, in calculating the width of the wheat zone, reckon it at least that width from north to south. I do not of course mean that all the land lying between the forty-ninth parallel and this latitude should be considered arable, but it is something to know that the climatic conditions up to this latitude are not too severe for the production of this cereal.

The soil resembles that at Fort Providence and the vegetable gardens are similar to those seen there. The increased sunlight of the summer months as we proceed northcounterbalances the disadvantages of the higher latitude. This, however, does not continue indefinitely. Even at points far south of Simpson the frost never leaves the ground at certain depths and this depth decreases till it approaches so near the surface in the far north as to prevent the ripening of either cereals or vegetables.

Fort Simpson has been regarded for many years as the most noted of the H.B. Company’s posts in the north, and, though it has now, I believe, lost some of its importance, it is still a centre of trade for a wide district of country.

It was here that the supplies were distributed, not only to the outlying posts farther down the river, but also to those up the Liard and to numerous inland stations. From here, too, the “Coureurs Du Bois” or “Trippers” were sent out in winter to the Indian hunting grounds, carrying with them by dog trains, ammunition and blankets and bringing back the furs of the country.

It is the last point visited on the journey northward, containing the vestiges of modern civilised life. The village, which probably contains 300 or 400 inhabitants,can boast of a system of electric lighting, a needless luxury for a considerable part of the year when there is scarcely any darkness, but later when the sun declines so low in the heavens as almost to refuse to dispel the darkness even at noonday, it serves to somewhat lessen the gloom of the long winter night. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the plant was installed by “The Company.” They have also established a museum here, containing stuffed exhibits of the animals and birds of the country. That of the latter is well arranged, and I presume gives a good representation of the feathered tribe of this north region. Of the former, scarcely as much can be said, though I remember among them a black bear that was very creditably set up. In the “Big House,” in other words, the Agent’s residence, we also found the unusual luxury of a small billiard table, which it must have cost a goodly sum to transport so far.

The principal buildings in this sub-Arctic “metropolis” are, of course, those of “The Company,” and the second those connected with the Anglican Mission. The latter consistof a good dwelling, occupied by the Rector of the parish, and which also serves as a schoolroom, while near by is the chapel, a very pretty edifice and creditable to the enterprise of those who erected it in this far away place.

The buildings of the village are of logs, the better ones being sided up with lumber and whitewashed. Much of this lumber I was informed had been cut with a whip saw, though a small mill was in operation for a time. I saw at Simpson some of the finest porcupine quill work that is made anywhere in the country, the women of one tribe of this region being famed as experts in this work.

We found the timber, since crossing Great Slave Lake, somewhat smaller in size, though lumber cut here and used in the buildings at Simpson is some twelve inches wide, but this is exceptional. One cannot but be struck with the vast quantities of spruce along the route that is a little under size for lumber, but which would make excellent pulp wood. The drift wood coming down the Liard is similar to that from the Peace, and indicates timber of a larger sizefarther up the stream than is found growing at its mouth.

Since leaving Fort Smith, we had been traversing territory beyond the north limit of the Province of Alberta. The sixtieth degree of latitude forms the north boundary of that Province and it is supposed to pass very near Fort Smith.

To wile away the weary hours, some one conceived the idea of forming a provisional government for this unorganised territory. Mr. Thos. Anderson, the Company’s Superintendent for this district who was with us, was, by popular acclaim, made Lieutenant-Governor. He immediately selected his cabinet from among those on board theWrigley. The pilot, a very worthy Cree Indian, was chosen as Minister of Marine, while a countryman of his, who was of a somewhat martial appearance, was made Minister of War: the tall lank white man, before referred to as the counterpart of Abraham Lincoln in his rail-splitting days, was called to the high office of Minister of Justice. The latter had his blankets tied up with a long rope and His Honour gave as one reason for his selecting Mr. Leigh(for such was his name) to be that he carried with him the very article which has served to enforce British justice the world over.

BISHOP REEVE, STEFANSSON AND RESIDENT CLERGYMAN AT SIMPSON

After subscribing to a declaration in which allegiance to “The Company” (not the King) was the principal article, a cabinet council was held. Numerous grievances under which this fair portion of Canada had long suffered were discussed. All were of one mind regarding the existence of these disabilities, but there was a wide divergence of opinion as to how they were to be remedied. However, on one subject there was entire unanimity.

Those who travelled in what were known as the North-West Territories before the Provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta were organised, will remember that intoxicating beverages were prohibited by the laws of the Dominion. This “tyrannical rule” obtains even at the present day in this Mackenzie District, and we soon realised that even if the cabinet had not been personally favourable to the free importation of this essential article, it would have been impossible for them to command the confidence of the people unless they passed anordinance abolishing this legislation. This was at once done, and received the immediate assent of the Lieutenant-Governor.

This bit of pleasantry was continued for some time, till it began to seem almost real, and in some measure to resemble the initial stages of the uprising many years before of Riel on the banks of the Red River. The Indian is not incapable of a kind of dry humour, but, at the same time, he does not always discern whether you are in earnest or merely jesting, and the result was that the Lieutenant-Governor, in the name of the Company, dismissed all his Ministers and resumed the intelligent autocratic control, which he had long exercised over the country.

After remaining about twenty-four hours at Simpson, we resumed our journey at five o’clock in the morning, and at nine caught the first sight of the Rocky Mountains (Nahanni Range) with their snow-capped peaks, which attain a height of 5000 ft. above sea level. This change of scenerywas welcomed after six weeks of travel through a vast wilderness of comparatively level land.

The weather had continued quite hot, with only an exception of a day or two, from our start, but whether from the effect of the mountains or not, we experienced a very decided change in the temperature immediately we reached their vicinity, and from this on we suffered no more from the excessive heat, which had been as unpleasant as it was unexpected. We had counted on escaping the usual July heat, but for the greater part it had really been more oppressive and certainly more constant, extending right through the long twenty-four-hour day, than I had ever before experienced.

It strikes the observer as extraordinary that the Mackenzie in its way to the sea from Great Slave Lake should bear off to the west, so far as to necessitate its cutting its way between two ranges of the Rocky Mountains, where a much shorter course and apparently one through a more level country lay open to the east into Coronation Gulf.

I do not know the opinion of geologists, but it seems probable that the original outlet of Great Slave Lake has been changed from this course to the longer one now followed, in the same way as the Niagara has become the outlet of the waters of Lake Huron instead of the Northern River of past ages, which flowed directly across country from the Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario.

At the distance of 136 miles below Simpson, we reach Fort Wrigley. This is a new post; the old one of the same name twenty-five miles above having been abandoned owing to its unhealthy locality. The country about Fort Wrigley is fairly well wooded. I noticed a spruce log, cut in the vicinity which measured twenty inches in diameter.

The Nahanni river, which is a considerable stream, flows from the west and joins the Mackenzie about halfway between Simpson and Wrigley. Just north of it rises Mount Camsell, a snow-clad peak 5000 ft. high.

Below Wrigley the river narrows to from a half to three quarters of a mile in width. This continues for some distance and then widens out as we proceed down the stream.Two noted mountain peaks, Mount Bompas and Mount Wrigley, are seen between Wrigley and Norman. About twenty miles above Fort Norman and on the left side of the river the clay banks assume a very red appearance, and the people use the earth as paint. This condition of the earth has been produced by fire in the coal seams. For several miles along the route the fire is now apparently extinct, but as we reached a point eight miles above Fort Norman, for upwards of two miles along the right bank of the river smoke was distinctly observed from fires still burning far down in the seams of coal. It is worthy of note that Sir Alexander Mackenzie makes mention of these fires in his narrative, as existing in 1789 when he explored and gave his name to the river.

About sixty miles below Wrigley we passed the mouth of Salt river which flows from the east. It is so named from deposits of salt that exist some miles above the mouth. Rock salt is said to exist on the Great Bear river above Norman, but the salt in use in the country is from another Salt River sixteen miles below Fort Smith.

At 7P.M., July 18, we reached Fort Norman at the mouth of the Great Bear River which is the outlet of Great Bear Lake. Fort Norman is distant from Fort Wrigley 184 miles and 1398 miles from Athabaska Landing. Its situation is very picturesque. The mountain peaks stand up in bold relief out of a vast level plain. Bear Mountain on the north side of Great Bear River and east of the Mackenzie is the most conspicuous.

While the steamer lay at Fort Norman, I started down the shore hoping to reach Great Bear River, but I soon found it dangerous to attempt to walk along the water’s edge owing to the banks being in some places too precipitous. I then tried the land farther up from the shore but was unable to find a trail and soon got into a wet swamp and had, very much to my regret, to give up the attempt. The width of the river, I understand to be some 150 or 200 yards and the water clear. This might be expected as it is the outlet of a lake with an area nearly if not quite that of Great Slave Lake.

At Fort Norman a fellow passenger inthe person of Rev. H. C. Winch, left us to assume his duties here as a Missionary of the Anglican Church. He had been my room mate on theWrigley, all the way from Fort Smith.

In company with several of the passengers I went up to the little house which was to be his home and remained till about eleven o’clock at night, and as we bade him good-bye in the twilight the loneliness of the life that was before him impressed itself on my mind.

Fancy the weird situation here in this wilderness with none but the native Indians and a few half breeds for companions. This during the few summer months when the days were long and when the birds and the wild geese had not left for the South might not be altogether unpleasant, but when the days would grow short, when the canoeing on the river was over and the long nights of winter approached, it certainly would require a good deal of fortitude to bear the part that he was to endure.

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