In which case they
must indeed out-number the Buffalo in their palmiest epoch. So much
for their abundance to-day. To what extent are they being destroyed?
I looked into this question with care.
First, of the Indian destruction. In 1812 the Chipewyan population,
according to Kennicott, was 7,500. Thomas Anderson, of Fort Smith,
showed me a census of the Mackenzie River Indians, which put them
at 3,961 in 1884. Official returns of the Canadian government give
them in 1905 at 3,411, as follows:
Peel . . . . . . . . . . 400
Arctic Red River . . . . . . 100
Good Hope . . . . . . . . 500
Norman . . . . . . . . . 300
Wrigley . . . . . . . . . 100
Simpson . . . . . . . . . 300
Rae . . . . . . . . . . 800
Liard and Nelson . . . . . . 400
Yellowknives . . . . . . . 151
Dogribs . . . . . . . . . 123
Chipewyans . . . . . . . . 123
Hay River . . . . . . . . 114
- - -
3,411
Of these the Hay River and Liard Indians, numbering about 500, can
scarcely be considered Caribou-eaters, so that the Indian population
feeding on Caribou to-day is about 3,000, less than half what it
was 100 years ago.
Of these not more than 600 are hunters. The traders generally agree
that the average annual kill of Caribou is about 10 or 20 per man,
not more. When George Sanderson, of Fort Resolution, got 75 one
year, it was the talk of the country; many got none. Thus 20,000
per annum killed by the Indians is a liberal estimate to-day.
