over the Frances Lake, and descended the Liard to Fort Simpson, arriving late in October amid thick drifting ice. Here he remained until November 30, when he left on snowshoes for one of the longest tramps on record. He reached Great Slave Lake on December 8, crossed the lake in a piercing wind to Fort Resolution, and after a day's rest there, set out for Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabaska, where he arrived on Christmas Day. Continuing his journey on January 4, he reached Ile à la Crosse on the 18th, and Carlton House, on the Saskatchewan, eleven days later. From Carlton House he had heavy going across the plains, only reaching Fort Pelly on February 11. He arrived at Fort Ellice five days later, and reached the Red River Settlement on the 23rd. Here he remained for several days enjoying the luxuries of civilized life and society, including a sermon,' the first he had heard in twenty years. On March I he was off again up the Red River, and reached Crow Wing on the 13th, having tramped on snow-shoes a distance of about three thousand miles. From Crow Wing the prosaic mail stage took him to St Paul and Prairie du Chien ; a steamer brought him to Galena, and a stage again to Rockford, then the terminal of the railway. By way of Chicago and Buffalo he reached Montreal, and after settling his business there, left for New York, where he took steamer for Liverpool, completing at London a journey performed by every species of conveyance, from canoes and snow-shoes to express trains and ocean steamers, of nearly ten thousand miles.

With regard to these explorations of the Great NorthWest Dr George M. Dawson wrote:

The utmost credit must be accorded to the pioneers of the Hudson's Bay Company for the enterprise displayed by them in carrying their trade into the Yukon basin in the face of difficulties so great, and at such an immense distance from their base of supplies. To explorations of this kind, performed in the service of commerce, unostentatiously and as matters of simple duty, by such men as Mackenzie, Fraser, Thompson and Campbell, we owe the discovery of our great north

west country. Their journeys were not marked by incidents of conflict and bloodshed, but were accomplished on the contrary with the friendly assistance and co-operation of the natives. Less resolute men would scarcely have entertained the idea of utilizing as an avenue of trade a river so perilous of navigation as the Liard had proved to be when explored. So long, however, as this appeared to be the most practicable route to the country beyond the mountains, its abandonment was not even contemplated. Neither distance nor danger appear to have been taken into account, and in spite of every obstacle a way was opened and a series of posts established extending from Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie to Fort Yukon. Fort Simpson may itself be regarded, even at the present day, as a post very far removed from the borders of civilization, but this further route stretched out beyond it for over a thousand miles. At the time of the establishment of Forts Yukon and Selkirk, and for many years afterwards, the returns from these furthest stations reached the market only after seven years, the course of trade being as follows: the first year the goods reached York Factory from England; the second year they were carried inland to Norway House; the third year they reached Peel River in the far north, and were hauled during the winter across the mountains to La Pierre House; the fourth year they arrived at their destination, Fort Yukon; the fifth year the returns were carried up the Porcupine River to La Pierre House and hauled across the Peel River; the sixth year they reached the depot at Fort Simpson; the seventh year they finally reached the market.

TH

III

FROM LAKE SUPERIOR TO THE PACIFIC

DAWSON, HIND AND PALLISER

HE story of Western exploration from 1840 to Confederation may fittingly end with a brief account of several surveys of the country between Lake Superior and the Rocky Mountains, and of some notable transcontinental journeys.

In the year 1857-58 Samuel J. Dawson carried out, under the instructions of the government of Canada, a series of surveys of the country between Lake Superior and the Red River Settlement, with the view of ascertaining the best route for a line of communication. He reported the old Grand Portage route as impracticable except for very small and light canoes, but found that by way of the Kaministikwia more favourable. His transportation scheme involved a wagon road from Thunder Bay to Dog Lake; the improvement by dams of the navigation of Dog Lake and River; a portage road round Prairie and Savanne Rapids to Savanne River; the water route again to Little Falls; Little Falls to Rainy Lake by water, with a land road round the twelve portages near Rainy Lake; the long stretch of over two hundred miles of water communication, with only one break, from the River Seine to Lac Plat; and a land road from Lac Plat to Fort Garry. Dawson recommended carts or wagons for the land stretches, connecting with small steamers on the water communications. His report was submitted to parliament, but nothing tangible came of it, and it was eventually swamped in the much more important scheme of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

In the years 1858-59, under instructions from the Canadian government, Henry Youle Hind carried out a series of important explorations of the country west of Lake Winnipeg and lying between the Saskatchewan and the Assiniboine. He found some difficulty in the Red River Settlement in procuring men for the expedition, because of the wholesome dread of the Sioux on the part of the native and half-breed hunters. Finally, however, eight men were secured, and with these and provisions for a three months' journey, Hind left for the interior.

From Fort Garry he made a careful examination of the Assiniboine as far as the mouth of the Souris, and followed that stream to the international boundary, thence crossing the prairie to Fort Ellice. Here he divided his party into three, one surveying the Qu'Appelle River, the second covering the country between Long Lake and Fort Pelly, and the third ascending the Qu'Appelle to its source and thence to

the south branch of the Saskatchewan. Hind himself, who had taken charge of the third section, on reaching the Saskatchewan, surveyed the south branch for two hundred and fifty miles to the Forks. At Fort la Corne, a few miles below the Forks, he again made a division, sending one of his officers down the main Saskatchewan, and by the west shore of Lake Winnipeg to the Red River, while he himself proceeded across country to the Touchwood Hills and Fort Ellice. Surveys were also made of the country about Lake Winnipegosis and the Riding Mountains, and east and west of the Red River.

While the Canadian explorers, Dawson and Hind, were surveying the country between Lake Superior and the south branch of the Saskatchewan, Captain John Palliser, in command of a strong party of explorers sent out by the British government, was making an elaborate series of surveys of the country between Fort Garry and Fort Colville on the Columbia. These explorations, which covered the years 1857-60, included an examination of the Red River to Fort Garry and Pembina; from Pembina along the boundary to Turtle Mountain and north-west to Fort Ellice; from Fort Garry to Fort Ellice by two separate routes; from Fort Ellice south-west to the boundary, north to Fort Pelly, west to the elbow of the South Saskatchewan, and north-west to the Touchwood Hills and Fort Carlton on the North Saskatchewan. From Fort Carlton a thorough examination was made of the North Saskatchewan and the Battle River, which was connected with a similarly careful survey from Chesterfield House of the South Saskatchewan with its tributaries, the Red Deer, Bow and Belly Rivers. In the north the country was examined in every direction from Fort Edmonton, and the Athabaska River surveyed to its source. Both branches of the Saskatchewan were followed up into the mountains, and the following passes discovered and laid down: the Kananaski and Vermilion Passes, from the South Saskatchewan to the Kootenay; the Lake Pass, Beaver Foot Pass, from Kootenay River to the Columbia; Little Fork Pass, from the South Saskatchewan to the North Saskatchewan; and the Kicking Horse Pass,

from the South Saskatchewan to the Columbia. In addition, Kootenay Pass was examined and found to be entirely within British territory. West of the mountains, the Columbia was examined from below the mouth of Blaeberry River to its source, and the Kootenay from its source to its junction with the Columbia.

SIR GEORGE SIMPSON

Between the years 1841 and 1864 three transcontinental journeys were made north of the forty-ninth parallel, or at any rate for the most part north of it. The first was by Sir George Simpson, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company; the second by Paul Kane, the Canadian artist and traveller ; and the third by Viscount Milton and Dr Cheadle. The narratives of all three have been preserved in book form.

Sir George Simpson, following the usual fur traders' route from Montreal, up the Ottawa to Lake Nipissing and through the Upper Lakes to Fort William, reached Fort Garry early in June 1841. Here he abandoned his canoes, and continued his journey to Fort Edmonton by horse, travelling rapidly across the prairie, the scene resembling the moving of an eastern caravan in the boundless sands of Arabia, a medley of pots and pans and kettles in our single vehicle, the unruly pack-horses prancing under their loads, and every cavalier, armed to the teeth, assisting his steed to neigh and caper with bit and spur.' As they were to travel through the country of the Blackfeet, a tribe which enjoyed a rather unsavoury reputation among the fur traders at the time, special precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the expedition.

Travelling by way of Fort Ellice, and following the track of a large body of emigrants who had left the Red River Settlement for the Columbia a few days before, Simpson arrived at Fort Carlton on the Saskatchewan, having covered about six hundred miles in thirteen days with heavily laden horses. Ascending the north bank of the Saskatchewan to Fort Pitt, he reached Edmonton on July 24, without having encountered any of the troublesome Blackfeet. At the fort,