Landmarks Along the Mackenzie.
Some notes culled from Mr. Ogilvie’s report as to the principal tributaries of the Mackenzie between Great Slave lake and the sea, and as to a few of the more remarkable stretches of the main river, will prove interesting at this point. Seventy miles below Great Slave lake is Little lake, which is about twelve miles long and ten to twelve miles wide, being merely an expansion of the river, like Lakes St. Francis and St. Peter in St. Lawrence system. Thirty-six miles lower down, Yellowknife river enters the Mackenzie from the south. It would appear from the statements of Indians to Mr. Ogilvie that this is the largest tributary of the Mackenzie between the Liard and Fort Providence. Twenty-seven miles below the confluence of the Yellowknife, and continuing to a short distance above the confluence of the Liard, the Mackenzie narrows to an average width of a little over half a mile, with a generally swift current. This continues for seventy and a half miles or nearly as far as Fort Simpson, near the mouth of the Liard and causes this part of the river to be called “The Line,” from the fact that large boats cannot be rowed against the current, but have to be hauled by a line attached to them, and pulled by men on shore. This is the common mode of navigation on all the northern rivers where there are no steamers, as it is less laborious than rowing against a current.
By the survey it is seven hundred and fifty-eight and one-half miles from Fort Simpson to Fort McPherson. The former fort is situated on an island just below the junction of Mackenzie and Liard rivers.
Ninety miles below Fort Simpson, on the west side, a river flows in from the southwest. Mr. Ogilvie had seen its name spelled Na-hone, but remembered that it is spelled by the Reverend Father Petitot, Na-hauner. It is, however, now known as North Nahanni river. This stream, as seen from the opposite side of the river, seems about two hundred yards wide, but it is shallow and rough at the mouth as was ascertained by the noise of its waters being plainly heard across the Mackenzie, here a mile wide. Mr. Ogilvie could get no information as to what it was like for any distance above its mouth, but it pierces the range of mountains to the west, which here come close to the river. The valley thus formed can be seen extending southwesterly through the mountains for many miles. The banks in the stretch of the Mackenzie from Simpson to this point are alternately low and swampy and moderately high, consisting of gravel and sand.
Some Tributaries.
Sixteen miles below the confluence of the North Nahanni, but from the opposite or eastern side, Willow lake river enters the Mackenzie. It is a quarter of a mile wide, deep with a slack current. It is said to flow out of a lake of considerable extent, not far from the Mackenzie.
Thirty-nine miles lower down, and three and a half miles above Fort Wrigley, a stream known to the Indians as “The River between Two Mountains” discharges into the Mackenzie from the east. It is about one hundred and fifty yards wide and shallow.
Seventy-four miles below Fort Wrigley, on the west side, a river discharges a large volume of clear, black water, which rushes bodily half way across the Mackenzie, and preserves its distinctive character for several miles before it mingles with the main stream. The name applied to this river by the people at Fort Wrigley was “La Rivière le Vieux Grand Lac.” It is said to flow out of a lake of considerable extent lying not far from the Mackenzie. Many peaks can be seen up its valley.
A little more than thirty miles lower down, on the same side of the river, another stream enters, apparently not more than a hundred yards wide at its mouth. Mr. Ogilvie saw it from the opposite side of the river only, and heard nothing concerning it.
A small stream enters the Mackenzie opposite this place, and up its valley, about two miles eastward from the river, a sharp peak rising one thousand five hundred feet above the water was noted by Mr. Ogilvie.