CONCLUSIONAN APPEAL
I cannotclose without calling public attention to a matter that impressed me very forcibly on my journey and which has ever since been before my mind, and that is the great need for the establishment of a hospital somewhere in that vast region of the Mackenzie watershed and its vicinity. Here is a country sparsely populated to be sure, but of vast extent compared with which most European countries are insignificant. Between Edmonton and the Arctic Sea we pass over sixteen degrees of latitude, while the distance by the travelled route is over 2000 miles. Again from the Rocky Mountains on the west to the Hudson Bay on the east the distance is almost equally as great.
At Athabaska Landing and at Peace River on the southern fringe of this great wilderness a few physicians have now establishedthemselves but beyond these places the only medical aid available is from an occasional visit of the Government physician and what the missionaries are able to furnish. At practically every post and Indian village on our way we were besieged for medicine by the afflicted. In many cases they were the victims of chronic diseases which would undoubtedly yield to surgical treatment provided proper means were afforded for attendance and nursing.
A few of the missionaries have some knowledge. One of them, perhaps the most proficient in this respect, informed me that appendicitis was quite as prevalent among the Indians of those regions as it is in the outside world, but that he felt incompetent to attempt an operation, and, moreover, even if such operations were properly performed, the conditions of life in the wigwam would afford poor chances for an ultimate recovery.
If a small hospital properly equipped were established say at Fort Simpson, at the junction of the Laird and Mackenzie Rivers, or at some point on Great Slave Lake, it could be reached by canoes in summer frompoints all along the Mackenzie even down to the sea on the north as well as the country to the south along the Athabaska and Great Slave Lakes and their tributary streams. By this means the poor people who are at present compelled to live out a life of suffering till death comes to their relief, would have the benefits that modern science affords to the afflicted in civilised life.
All know the splendid results that have attended similar efforts on the Atlantic Coast between Newfoundland and Hudson’s Straits through the agency of Dr. Grenfell. Here is a field even greater than that of the Labrador but where no such a benefactor has yet appeared, and my last words in this connection must be an appeal to our people on both sides of the Atlantic to unite in what would really be a most beneficent work for suffering humanity. I cannot but believe that if this want were generally known it would not be long till the charitably disposed would come to the relief of those lonely and helpless people.
I have now concluded an imperfect narrative of a hasty trip through the country, and I may as well confess that it is doubtfulif I would have sought the public ear through this publication had I not thought it my duty to call attention to this matter, and if words of mine should aid in bringing about an amelioration of the sufferings of those dwelling in that lone wilderness, I shall feel well rewarded for having attempted an unfamiliar task in the preparation of this narrative.
(High-res)Department of the InteriorHONOURABLE ROBERT ROGERS. MINISTERW. W. CORY. DEPUTY MINISTERWESTERN CANADARoute followed in 1905 by Elihu Stewart, D.S.L.Accompanying Report of Elihu Stewart, D.S.L.
(High-res)Department of the InteriorHONOURABLE ROBERT ROGERS. MINISTERW. W. CORY. DEPUTY MINISTERWESTERN CANADARoute followed in 1905 by Elihu Stewart, D.S.L.Accompanying Report of Elihu Stewart, D.S.L.
(High-res)
Department of the InteriorHONOURABLE ROBERT ROGERS. MINISTERW. W. CORY. DEPUTY MINISTERWESTERN CANADARoute followed in 1905 by Elihu Stewart, D.S.L.
Accompanying Report of Elihu Stewart, D.S.L.