Great Slave lake and Hudson bay.
They left Fort Resolution on Great Slave lake on July 1 and travelled via Pike portage, Artillery lake, Hanbury river and Thelon river, to Hudson bay at Chesterfield inlet, where they arrived on August 31. No natives or guides were employed from Great Slave lake to Hudson bay and this portion of the journey was made without any mishap whatever.
Inspector Pelletier estimated the distances travelled on this patrol as follows:—
| Miles. | |
| Fort Saskatchewan to Athabaska (teams) | 90 |
| Athabaska to McMurray (scow) | 280 |
| McMurray to Graham’s Landing (steamer) | 290 |
| Graham’s Landing to Fort Smith (teams) | 12 |
| Fort Smith to Fort Resolution (canoes) | 180 |
| Fort Resolution to Fort Reliance (canoes) | 240 |
| Pike portage route between Great Slave lake | |
| and Artillery lake (portage and canoe) | 25 |
| Artillery lake to height of land (portage and canoe) | 100 |
| Height of land to Thelon river (portage and canoe) | 170 |
| Thelon river (canoe) | 220 |
| Beverly lake and river (canoe) | 35 |
| Aberdeen lake (canoe) | 60 |
| River between Aberdeen and Schultz lakes (canoe) | 20 |
| Schultz lake (canoe) | 25 |
| Schultz or Lower Thelon river (portage and canoe) | 35 |
| Baker lake (canoe) | 60 |
| River foot of Baker lake (canoe) | 25 |
| Chesterfield inlet, Hudson bay (canoe) | 130 |
| == | |
| Total | 1,997 |
Of the canoes used on this patrol, one was an eighteen foot length, forty-two inch beam, the other eighteen and one-half foot length, forty-three inch beam; both were eighteen inches deep, longitudinal strip cedar, varnished, fitted with oars for hard pulling against strong winds on the lakes. Inspector Pelletier had a good stock of paddles and fifty-five foot lateen sails. Each canoe weighed one hundred and twenty pounds portaging weight. The portage from Great Slave lake towards Artillery lake was found to be about six miles from the site of Fort Reliance, of which historic establishment a stone chimney alone remains standing.
Some interesting topographical information regarding the region between Hudson bay and The Pas was obtained through the surveys made under the direction of John Armstrong, C.E., for the Department of Railways and Canals in 1908 and 1909, for the purpose of determining a projected location for a railway to Hudson bay from The Pas, the nearest point on the Saskatchewan then having railway connection. From The Pas to a point north of Pipestone lake a single route was laid down; thence two routes, one to Port Nelson, the other to Churchill, were surveyed. Mr. Armstrong, in his report (Sessional Paper No. 20 d.—1910), makes some interesting references to the natural resources of the district covered by the surveys.
All the expeditions which have been thus briefly passed in review made additions to the knowledge we possess of the natural resources of the great unsettled Northwest, but it will be observed that the acquisition of geographical knowledge only was the object for which most of these expeditions were equipped and sent forward. The trained explorers of the Geological Survey of Canada have given us a fair idea of the geological features and natural resources generally along the more accessible lines of travel, particularly in the southern and western parts of this vast unsettled and unsurveyed region, but it is only within the last few years that systematic surveys have been undertaken there to determine the adaptability of certain areas to agricultural development and settlement.
In 1908, Frank J. P. Crean, C.E., of the Railway Lands Branch of the Department of the Interior, was commissioned to explore and procure all the information possible about that tract of country lying to the east of Beaver river and Green lake,
Farm at Mount Nebo on Green lake trail, sixty-five miles from Prince Albert.