Across the sub-Arctics of Canada

by J. W. Tyrrell

Mr. Lofthouse preaches in the Cree, Chippewyan and Eskimo languages, and having won the esteem and affection of his people, he has a powerful influence over them, and is teaching them with much success. He and Mrs. Lofthouse together conduct a day-school for the benefit of the children of the permanent residents. These number twenty-one, and the total population of Churchill is only fifty-one. On visiting the school I was much pleased with the advancement of the children, even the smallest of whom could read from the Bible. The girls were being taught by Mrs. Lofthouse to do various kinds of needle-work, and by way of encouragement were being supplied with materials.

At the trading station, besides Mr. Matheson, Capt. Hawes and his family were staying at the time, he in an unofficial capacity. He was shortly to succeed Mr. Matheson, who was to be removed to some other post. Although not so well acquainted with the Captain as with Mr. and Mrs. Lofthouse, his face was also a familiar one to me, as we had met at Churchill in former years, when he was master of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s ship, Cam Owen, since wrecked on the coast.

For nearly two hundred years it had been the practice of the Hudson’s Bay Company to send out from England every year one or two small sailing vessels with supplies to their trading stations on Hudson Bay. Almost without exception these little crafts were able to make their passages successfully, deliver their cargo, and return to England with a wealth of furs, oil, and other goods obtained in trade from the natives.

Now this practice is all changed. Instead of the small sailing vessels, one large steamship is employed for the trade, and Churchill, possessing the only safe harbor on the west coast, is made the shipping port for the Bay, all goods being distributed from this centre by schooners to the other posts, and the furs here collected for shipment. Over this work of distributing and collecting goods the Captain was to have charge.

During the stay at Churchill every day brought noticeable improvement in the condition of our party. On several occasions, the weather being favorable, snowshoeing expeditions were formed and much enjoyed, though usually accompanied by great fatigue. Knowing, however, that by means of such travel we must return home in a short time, we realized the necessity of gaining strength for the long journey.

In the course of one of our outings we reached a place called Sloops Cove, about half way to Prince of Wales Fort, and there made some interesting observations. This cove owes its name to the fact that in the year 1741 the two sloops, Furnace and Discovery, sent out from England in command of Captain Middleton to search for the long-looked-for North-West Passage, spent the winter there. How two vessels could have been forced into this cove is a question which has given rise to much speculation on the part of Canadian scientists, for the cove does not now contain more than sufficient depth of water, at high tide, to float a small boat, and it is doubtful if even such a boat could get in through the rocky entrance. The historical fact remains, however, that this cove was the winter quarters of these two sloops, and as proof of the fact a number of ring-bolts to which the vessels were secured may still be seen leaded into the smooth glaciated granite shores. Besides the ring-bolts, many interesting carvings are to be seen cut on the surface of the smooth rocks. Amongst them are the following:—“Furnace and Discovery 1741,” “J. Horner 1746,” “J. Morley 1748,” “James Walker May yᵉ 25 1753,” “Guillford Long May yᵉ 27 1753,” “J. Wood 1757,” “Sl. Hearne July yᵉ 1 1767.” In addition to many other names are several picture carvings, and notably one of a man suspended from a gallows, over which is the inscription, “John Kelley from the Isle of Wight.” According to local tradition Mr. Kelley is said to have been hanged for the theft of a salt goose.

As yet during our stay at Churchill we had not been successful in reaching the ruins of old Fort Prince of Wales, but on the 3rd of November, the weather being cold and good for snowshoeing, we started off, and after an enjoyable five-mile tramp reached the memorable spot, now a scene of utter desolation. Not a tree or other sign of life could be seen on the long, low snow-driven point of rock, but there in all its solitary, massive grandeur stood the remains of what had more than one hundred years ago been a noble fortress.

The construction of this fortification—which appears to have been planned by the English engineer, Joseph Robson—was commenced in the year 1743 by the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was then, as now, carrying on fur-trading business in northern Canada. So large and expensive a fortification was built probably not so much for the protection of the Company’s interests as for the purpose of complying with a provision of its Royal Charter, which required that the country should be fortified.

The building of the fort appears to have been carried on for many years under the direction of the famous Samuel Hearne, already referred to as having traversed the Barren Lands to the mouth of the Copper Mine River. In a stone barrack within the Fort, Hearne lived and carried on business for the Company for many years.