Soon Franklin met seventeen canoes filled with Indians, who had promised to go part of the way with him and hunt game for his party. They all proceeded together through a chain of lakes to Winter lake, where they decided to pass the winter. Here they built a house which they called Fort Enterprise, and from this place they made short trips to explore the country northward. One of the exploring parties reached the source of the Coppermine river.
At first game was plentiful at Fort Enterprise, but as winter advanced the reindeer left the place, provisions became scarce, and ammunition was very low. Back offered to return to Lake Athabasca for supplies, and Franklin allowed him to go. He left the party in November, and they did not see him again until March. He had made a journey of eleven hundred miles on snowshoes, sleeping in the shelter of drifts, wrapped in a blanket and a deerskin, and had sometimes been forced to go without food for two or three days. But he had saved the party.
When spring came, Franklin and his company started northward again with two large canoes and several sledges. They must have “made a record” for slow travel, for each man had to carry or drag a load of one hundred and eighty pounds, probably more than the weight of any one of them. At the Coppermine they launched their canoes, and were soon shooting dangerous rapids, and carrying their boats over the portages. Franklin did not stop to search for copper; he had other aims.
On July 18, 1821, the party reached the mouth of the Coppermine and camped on the shore of the Arctic ocean. It was a cold place for a camp, but the men were so delighted to reach this point that they did not complain of the temperature.
Franklin here paid a tribute to famous travelers, and to some of his old friends, by naming the capes and bays after them. This might be called a cold compliment, but doubtless the favored ones appreciated it.
The great ocean must have seemed to these men the end of their journey, yet it was only the beginning. On July 21 the canoes were launched and one of the most daring voyages of exploration was begun that has ever been attempted. Canoes built for use only on lakes and rivers had now to battle with rough waters filled with ice. For several weeks Franklin kept on his perilous way eastward, discovering new islands, bays, and capes.
As freezing weather had already set in, and the provisions showed signs of giving out, Franklin decided to return to Fort Enterprise and spend the winter there, hoping to continue his work along the coast the next summer.
He named the place where he decided to return Point Turnagain. The distance from the Coppermine to Point Turnagain is five hundred and fifty miles, and all that length of coast was traversed and charted by Franklin’s company.
It was decided to go back to Fort Enterprise by way of the Hood river, because that route was thought easier than the other; it proved to be more difficult. Much of the journey had to be made on foot over a stony country. The men were loaded down with boats, tents, and blankets, and, worst of all, the provisions gave out. All that the adventurers could find to eat was a kind of lichen, which grew like moss on the rocks. Often the men were wet to their waists from having to ford streams and tramp through swamps.