The Unexploited West / A Compilation of all of the authentic information available at the present time as to the Natural Resources of the Unexploited Regions of Northern Canada

by Ernest J. Chambers

The Migratory Herds.

“Along the southern shore of Great Bear lake, especially at the point where we reached it on MacTavish bay, numerous well-worn trails testify to the great numbers of caribou that pass back and forth in spring and fall. They arrive from the Barren Grounds about the time of the first deep snows, usually by the middle of October, and sometimes extend their migration west to the outlet of the lake, though they are not common in that vicinity. In the spring the greater number return, though a few remain through the summer on the semibarren areas near Leith point, and westward to the vicinity of McVicar bay. We saw fresh tracks of a number near our camp east of Leith point during the early days of September.

“The Hare Indians living about the southern and western shores of Great Bear lake, repair to its eastern end about the end of July, usually coasting the southern shore, and spend a month or two among the caribou on the treeless country between the eastern end of the lake and the lower Coppermine, returning to their winter hunting grounds early in October.

“During the winter of 1903-4, caribou reached the Northern Arm and the eastern part of Great Slave lake in great numbers and some were killed within a short distance of the buildings at Fort Rae for the first time in several years.

West of The Mackenzie.

“Mr. John Firth, of the Hudson’s Bay Company, for many years stationed at Fort McPherson and on Porcupine river, informed me that the herds of caribou west of the Mackenzie have a semi-annual movement to and from the sea-coast. In their journeys they head toward the prevailing winds, and consequently occasionally pass to the eastward of the mountains, though usually to the westward. The southward movement commences in August, and extends only about four hundred miles. They start to return in March. Though the bulk of the animals then proceed to the coast, a few remain throughout the summer in the elevated and semibarren country between the Peel and the Porcupine. The Indians from La Pierre House, who arrived at Fort McPherson during my stay there early in July, 1904, having crossed the mountains on foot, had killed a few of these animals on the way.

The Barren Ground Caribou.

“During Franklin’s first northern journey, the Barren Ground species was first met with on the upper part of Yellowknife river, about the middle of August, 1820; toward the end of September it had become common about Fort Enterprise; on October 10 an estimated number of two thousand were seen during a short walk in the vicinity; by October 26, they had departed southward, but about the middle of November, on account of warmer weather, they returned to the neighbourhood. During the following summer, while the party was exploring the Arctic coast to the eastward of Coppermine river, caribou were found to be rather common at the mouth of Hood river, and were noted also on Parry bay and at Point Turnagain. During Franklin’s second journey, reindeer were killed near Fort Franklin, Great Bear lake. J. C. Ross states that great numbers were seen about the Isthmus of Boothia.

“During Richardson’s journey along the Arctic coast east of the Mackenzie, in the summer of 1848, he observed the species near Liverpool bay in August, and on Darnley bay later in the same month, and saw many at Bloody fall, on the lower Coppermine, on September 5.

“West of the Mackenzie they are still abundant along the barren coast and in the mountains south of it. They migrate southward in autumn, but how far is not known. Rampart House was a ‘deer post,’ being situated in a pass traversed semi-annually by the caribou.