The other expedition was put in command of Sir John Franklin, who, together with four companions, was to proceed to Hudson bay on one of the ships belonging to the Hudson Bay Company. From Hudson bay, Franklin was to make a land journey by means of sledges and canoes across the northern part of North America, to the mouth of the Coppermine river. From this point, he was to turn and follow the coast of North America east. The latitude and longitude of various places were to be noted, maps to be drawn, and capes, bays, and rivers located and surveyed.
At this time that part of North America which borders on the Arctic ocean had never been explored. Only two white men, employees of the Hudson Bay Company, had ever looked upon this ocean from the continent of North America. The first, Samuel Hearne, traveled northward with the Indians in 1770, and reached the mouth of a large river which was named the Coppermine, because the Indians said that large mines of copper were to be found along its banks.
The second explorer, Alexander Mackenzie, in 1789 traced to its mouth the river which now bears his name. With the exception of these two river mouths, the entire northern coast of North America was unknown. The map which is to-day covered with names of places, was then a blank.
This was the region which Franklin was to explore. Many men would dread such a journey, but Franklin liked it because of the very dangers involved. Dr. John Richardson, midshipmen Robert Hood and George Back, and a seaman, John Hepburn, were selected to go with Franklin on this trip; they were well chosen, for they were worthy companions of the young leader. On May 23, 1819, he and his men sailed on the Prince of Wales for the Arctic land. The voyage was long and stormy; several times it seemed likely that the Prince of Wales would never touch land again, but at the end of three months she anchored off York Factory, on the southern shore of Hudson bay, one of the posts built by the Hudson Bay Company for the purpose of trading in furs with the Indians.
The people at York Factory received Franklin and his companions kindly and helped them all they could. They gave Franklin a boat for his journey through the lakes and rivers on his way to the sea. The same sort of boat is still in use in that region and is called a York boat. It is forty feet in length, narrow, light, and sharp at both ends. About ten men can manage it. When on lakes or traveling down streams the men use oars, but when traveling against the current of a river they run alongshore and drag the boat after them. This long and narrow boat is well suited for shooting rapids, through which it is guided by means of long poles. Sometimes the rapids are so swift that they cannot be navigated, and falls are often encountered. Then the cargoes are taken out of the boats and carried around the rapids or falls, and afterward the boats also are carried around. Such a place is called a portage.
The officers of the Hudson Bay Company, besides giving Franklin a boat, sent word to other trading posts throughout the country, to look out for him and to help him. The party, having secured boats and stores, started from York Factory to continue their journey. After traveling seven hundred miles, they reached another post called Cumberland House, where Franklin expected to find guides and hunters, but every one refused to undertake a journey so full of peril.
A Post of the Hudson Bay Company.
Franklin, though disappointed, was not discouraged. He left two men at Cumberland House to wait for supplies and to bring them on. Then, with Back and Hepburn, he started out with dog sledges for another trading post on Lake Athabasca. This journey was begun on January 18, 1820, in the middle of an Arctic winter of prolonged darkness. The suffering of these three explorers cannot be described. The temperature fell as low as 38° below zero, blizzards were common, and the party nearly perished. On some days the mercury froze in the thermometers, and the tea froze in the tin pots before it could be drunk.
At Lake Athabasca Franklin was joined by the men he had left at Cumberland House. They had secured some provisions, and now the entire party proceeded down the Slave river to Great Slave lake. They reached Fort Providence, on the northern end of the lake, during the latter part of July, and in a few days the little company departed in four canoes, steering northward into a country which had never before been visited by white men.