The Principal Buildings Are Placed In The Form Of A Square Having An
Octagonal Court In The Centre; They Are Two Storeys In Height And Have
Flat Roofs Covered With Lead.
The officers dwell in one portion of this
square, and in the other parts the articles of merchandise are kept:
The
workshops, storehouses for the furs, and the servants' houses are ranged
on the outside of the square, and the whole is surrounded by a stockade
twenty feet high. A platform is laid from the house to the pier on the
bank for the convenience of transporting the stores and furs, which is
the only promenade the residents have on this marshy spot during the
summer season. The few Indians who now frequent this establishment belong
to the Swampy Crees. There were several of them encamped on the outside
of the stockade. Their tents were rudely constructed by tying twenty or
thirty poles together at the top, and spreading them out at the base so
as to form a cone; these were covered with dressed moose-skins. The fire
is placed in the centre and a hole is left for the escape of the smoke.
The inmates had a squalid look and were suffering under the combined
afflictions of the whooping-cough and measles; but even these miseries
did not keep them from an excessive indulgence in spirits, which they
unhappily can procure from the traders with too much facility; and they
nightly serenaded us with their monotonous drunken songs. Their sickness
at this time was particularly felt by the traders, this being the season
of the year when the exertion of every hunter is required to procure
their winter's stock of geese, which resort in immense flocks to the
extensive flats in this neighbourhood. These birds during the summer
retire far to the north and breed in security; but when the approach of
winter compels them to seek a more southern climate they generally alight
on the marshes of this bay and fatten there for three weeks or a month
before they take their final departure from the country. They also make a
short halt at the same spots in their progress northwards in the spring.
Their arrival is welcomed with joy, and the goose hunt is one of the most
plentiful seasons of the year. The ducks frequent the swamps all the
summer.
The weather was extremely unfavourable for celestial observations during
our stay, and it was only by watching the momentary appearances of the
sun that we were enabled to obtain fresh rates for the chronometers and
allow for their errors from Greenwich time. The dip of the needle was
observed to be 79 degrees 29 minutes 07 seconds, and the difference
produced by reversing the face of the instrument was 11 degrees 3 minutes
40 seconds. A succession of fresh breezes prevented our ascertaining the
intensity of the magnetic force. The position of York Factory by our
observations is in latitude 57 degrees 00 minutes 03 seconds North,
longitude 92 degrees 26 minutes West. The variation of the compass 6
degrees 00 minutes 21 seconds East.
CHAPTER 2.
PASSAGE UP HAYES, STEEL AND HILL RIVERS.
CROSS SWAMPY LAKE.
JACK RIVER.
KNEE LAKE AND MAGNETIC ISLET.
TROUT RIVER.
HOLY LAKE.
WEEPINAPANNIS RIVER.
WINDY LAKE.
WHITE FALL LAKE AND RIVER.
ECHEMAMIS AND SEA RIVERS.
PLAY GREEN LAKES.
LAKE WINNIPEG.
RIVER SASKATCHEWAN.
CROSS, CEDAR AND PINE ISLAND LAKES.
CUMBERLAND HOUSE.
PASSAGE UP HAYES, STEEL, AND HILL RIVERS.
September 1819.
On the 9th of September, our boat being completed, arrangements were made
for our departure as soon as the tide should serve. But when the stores
were brought down to the beach it was found that the boat would not
contain them all. The whole therefore of the bacon and part of the flour,
rice, tobacco, and ammunition were returned into the store. The bacon was
too bulky an article to be forwarded under any circumstances; but the
Governor undertook to forward the rest next season. In making the
selection of articles to carry with us I was guided by the judgment of
Governor Williams who assured me that tobacco, ammunition, and spirits
could be procured in the interior, otherwise I should have been very
unwilling to have left these essential articles behind. We embarked at
noon and were honoured with a salute of eight guns and three cheers from
the Governor and all the inmates of the fort who had assembled to witness
our departure. We gratefully returned their cheers and then made sail,
much delighted at having now commenced our voyage into the interior of
America. The wind and tide failing us at the distance of six miles above
the Factory, and the current being too rapid for using oars to advantage,
the crew had to commence tracking, or dragging the boat by a line to
which they were harnessed. This operation is extremely laborious in these
rivers. Our men were obliged to walk along the steep declivity of a high
bank, rendered at this season soft and slippery by frequent rains, and
their progress was often further impeded by fallen trees which, having
slipped from the verge of the thick wood above, hung on the face of the
bank in a great variety of directions. Notwithstanding these obstacles we
advanced at the rate of two miles an hour, one-half of the crew relieving
the other at intervals of an hour and a half. The banks of the river and
its islands, composed of alluvial soil, are well covered with pines,
larches, poplars, and willows. The breadth of the stream some distance
above the Factory is about half a mile, and its depth during this day's
voyage varied from three to nine feet.
At sunset we landed and pitched the tent for the night, having made a
progress of twelve miles. A large fire was quickly kindled, supper
speedily prepared and as readily despatched, when we retired with our
buffalo robes on and enjoyed a night of sound repose.
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