A trout taken by Simpson’s party at Fort Confidence, Great Bear lake, measured four and one-half feet in length and twenty-seven inches in girth, and weighed forty-seven pounds.
Richardson states that Franklin’s party, during eighteen months’ residence at Fort Franklin in 1825-26, took three thousand five hundred trout weighing from two to thirty pounds each.
The Lower Mackenzie.
Writing of his visit to the small post at the mouth of Arctic Red river on the lower Mackenzie in the autumn of 1905, Mr. Harrison (“In Search of a Polar Continent”) remarks:—“Before starting we loaded up nine sledges, at the mouth of Arctic Red river, with dried fish, which was now to be obtained in abundance. On reaching this post, indeed, I had calculated that there were about twenty thousand dried fish hanging up there, which had all been caught in nets and smoked over the camp fires. This industry of catching fish is busily and extensively carried on each year upon Mackenzie river. The natives begin operations in August and continue as long as the river is open; few fish are taken after the ice has set fast. The chief kinds of fish which are caught are the inconnu (or Mackenzie river salmon, though it would seem rather to be a sort of herring), the white fish and the trout. The inconnu, which turns the scale at anything between twenty and forty pounds, is excellent provender alike for men and for dogs; when dried, it becomes, of course, much lighter by shrinkage, and can conveniently be carried on sledges. The whitefish, as I have previously stated, average about two pounds a piece; the heaviest I saw here weighed eight pounds. The whitefish, moreover, furnish a more toothsome repast than any other kind obtainable in these waters. There are numerous trout in the surrounding lakes, but I seldom procured any of them.”
The “Conny” or “Inconnu.”
Mr. Harrison mentions that in 1906 in the country between Point Separation on the Mackenzie delta and Liverpool bay on the Arctic coast, at the mouth of a small river, his Esquimaux caught several huge pike, one of which he weighed and found to scale forty-two pounds. They were excellent eating, but they tore the nets to pieces. This stream, Mr. Harrison says, is fifty yards wide, and is thickly timbered on both banks.
The Whaling Industry.
It is not proposed to discuss here the fisheries of Arctic ocean and of the islands which lie therein, but having come down to the mouth of the Mackenzie we might well devote a couple of paragraphs to a fishing industry actively prosecuted in the immediate vicinity.
In his annual report dated Fort Macpherson February 16, 1910, Inspector G. L. Jennings makes the following reference to the whaling industry in northern waters: “In August, 1909, the steamer Karluk arrived at Herschel island. She is an independent whaler, the stock of the venture amounting to thirty-two thousand dollars, being owned by the captain, the officers, and some merchants of San Francisco. The Karluk cruised in the neighbourhood of Baillie island and Banks Land until the close of navigation. She returned to Herschel island on September 23, having killed eleven bowhead whales, eight of which I understand were taken in Canadian waters, north and east of Cape Parry. The value of this cargo of eleven head is, by an estimate at the present low price of bone, eighty-five thousand dollars. The Karluk is wintering at Herschel island and will return to the eastward by first open water. As she will have the field to herself for at least six weeks before any other ships can arrive from the westward, the chances are that she will make another large catch, and will no doubt leave in the fall of this year for San Francisco with a cargo of bone valued from one hundred and fifty thousand dollars upwards. The value of the trade of the Karluk in pelts will also be several thousand dollars. I think it is greatly to be regretted that no Canadian whaling ships or traders from our Pacific coast come into this territory, instead of leaving everything to the Americans. With a good class of trade goods, no cheap trashy stuff, and having no duty on these goods, selling or trading at a reasonable profit, the whole trade of our Arctic coast could easily be secured. I think it is but a matter of a very few years before American trading concerns open stations at Herschel island, Kittigazuit and Baillie island. If a Canadian firm was established first there would be no opposition.”