On July 19, according to Franklin, the sun set at the mouth of Coppermine river at half past eleven.
From the official report of Inspector Pelletier we find that at Artillery lake on July 23 “the atmosphere was quite smoky and warm.” On the morning of August 12 on Thelon river the ground was white with frost, and the ice on a kettle of water was a quarter of an inch in thickness. The sun got up warm, and the weather during the day was perfect. August 13 (Beverly lake) was “a warm still day”. August 31 (Chesterfield inlet) was “a nice still day, very warm.”
While on their way from York to Lake Athabaska, and descending Cree river, Sir George Simpson’s party, in 1823, picked “a good many ripe raspberries, currants and gooseberries on the portages” on July 30.
Mr. Tyrrell reports snow banks on the hillsides and great piles of rafted ice on the shore at Markham lake on Dubawnt river, south of Dubawnt lake, on August 3, 1893.
As to the close of the Barren Lands summer, Back mentions that while ascending the river which has since been given his name, on September 4, 1834, “a hard gale from the northwest indicated the commencement of the fall weather, and, while we were travelling, many hundreds of geese flew high past us to the south.”
Mr. Hanbury mentions that one year during his travels two inches of snow fell during the night of September 18 and ice formed on the smaller lakes north of Baker lake. He remarks:—“On my journey in 1899 we travelled on the ice with dogs the last days of June, and were beset by ice on Schultz lake on July 31. Now in the middle of September we had ice again, and it looked as if it had come to stay. We had not gone far when we were obliged, by the state of the weather, to put ashore and camp. The rest of the day was spent in repairing our tent, which had suffered considerably during the recent storm.”
Warburton Pike states (“The Barren Ground of Northern Canada”) that the ice on Great Slave lake is usually not safe for travel till the middle of December.
Ultimate Development of the Country.
In his paper read before the British Association at Toronto, Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, referring to the temperature of the Barren Lands and its bearing upon the question of the ultimate development of the country, had this to say:—
“In this connection it may be stated that while the mean summer temperature (which is below 50¼° on the Barren Lands) determines the limit of the forest and the possibility of the growth of trees, the mean winter temperature would probably determine the habitability of the country by human beings.