STARVING CREE CAMP, FORT McMURRAY.
Receiving again our four hundred pounds of supplies from Schott, we lost no more time at Fort McMurray, but at seven o’clock next morning the little expedition, consisting now of eight men and three canoes, pushed out into the river, and with a parting salute sped away with the current, which being swift, and our canoemen fresh, enabled us in a short time to place many miles between us and the Fort. At five o’clock in the evening, having then descended the river a distance of about sixty miles we were delighted to meet the steamer Grahame on her up-stream trip from Fort Chippewyan to McMurray to receive the goods brought down the rapids by the scows. The steamer, being in charge of Dr. McKay, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s officer from Chippewyan, who had been informed of our expedition, was at once brought to a stand in the river, and we were kindly invited on board. When I commenced to clamber up the steamer’s deck, whose hand should be offered to assist me but that of an old friend and fellow-shipmate for two years in Hudson Straits, Mr. J. W. Mills. The acquaintance of Dr. McKay and of the Bishop of Athabasca, who happened to be on board, was also made, and with right genial companions an hour quickly and very pleasantly passed. Mr. Mills, who was attired in the uniform of a steamboat captain, had lately been appointed to the command of the steamer Wrigley, plying on the lower section of the river below Fort Smith, to which place he was to be taken by the Grahame on her return trip from Fort McMurray. Before parting company, the Doctor promised to meet us again at Chippewyan on the 19th inst., and after this short meeting, and many parting good wishes, as well as blessings from the Bishop, we resumed our separate ways.
A DANDY OF THE NORTH. A VOYAGEUR.
Notwithstanding the hour’s delay, and the fact that rain fell all day, we made the very good run of seventy-two miles. As we swept along with the winding river, the most beautiful and varied scenes were continually presented. The banks, though not so high as above Fort McMurray, were bold and thickly draped with spruce and poplar woods. Taking advantage of the discovery of some straight spruce saplings, we landed as night approached, and a number of our men were sent to select a few for the purpose of making good tent-poles, to take the place of the rough ones we had been using. Besides spruce and other varieties of timber, balsam trees, the last seen on the northward journey, were found at this camp.
On the morning of the 16th, though the weather continued showery and a strong head wind had set in, we were early on our way, for we were anxious to reach Chippewyan a day or two before the return of the Grahame, that we might rate our chronometer and make all necessary preparations for a good-bye to the outermost borders of civilization. In descending the Athabasca we were making no survey of the course, nor any continuous examination of the geological features of the district, but were chiefly concerned in getting down to Chippewyan, where we were to receive our full loads of supplies, and from which place our work was really to begin. Despite the unpleasantness of the weather, therefore, our canoes were kept in the stream and all hands at the paddles, and by nightfall another stretch of about sixty miles was covered. We had now reached the low flat country at the delta of the river, where its waters break into many channels, but still a strong current was running, and this we were glad to find continued until within a distance of six or eight miles from the lake. Some parts of the river were much obstructed by drift-wood grounded upon shoals; the banks, too, were low and marshy, and landing-places difficult to find. Several flocks of wild geese were seen, but none secured.