It fell during the night and
the whole party was buried under its ruins.
The length of our voyage today was in a direct line sixteen miles and a
quarter on a South-South-West course. We encamped soon after sunset and
the tent was scarcely pitched when a heavy rain began, which continued
all night.
Sixteen miles on the 11th and five on the following morning brought us to
the commencement of Hayes River which is formed by the confluence of the
Shamattawa and Steel Rivers. Our observations place this spot in latitude
56 degrees 22 minutes 32 seconds North, longitude 93 degrees 1 minute 37
seconds West. It is forty-eight miles and a half from York Factory
including the windings of the river. Steel River, through which our
course lay, is about three hundred yards wide at its mouth; its banks
have more elevation than those of Hayes River, but they shelve more
gradually down to the stream and afford a tolerably good towing path,
which compensates in some degree for the rapids and frequent shoals that
impede its navigation. We succeeded in getting about ten miles above the
mouth of the river before the close of day compelled us to disembark.
We made an effort on the morning of the 13th to stem the current under
sail but, as the course of the river was very serpentine, we found that
greater progress could be made by tracking. Steel River presents much
beautiful scenery; it winds through a narrow but well wooded valley which
at every turn disclosed to us an agreeable variety of prospect, rendered
more picturesque by the effect of the season on the foliage, now ready to
drop from the trees. The light yellow of the fading poplars formed a fine
contrast to the dark evergreen of the spruce, whilst the willows of an
intermediate hue served to shade the two principal masses of colour into
each other. The scene was occasionally enlivened by the bright purple
tints of the dogwood, blended with the browner shades of the dwarf birch
and frequently intermixed with the gay yellow flowers of the shrubby
cinquefoil. With all these charms the scene appeared desolate from the
want of human species. The stillness was so great that even the
twittering of the whiskey-johneesh, or cinereous crow caused us to start.
Our voyage today was sixteen miles on a South-West course.
September 14.
We had much rain during the night and also in the morning, which detained
us in our encampment later than usual. We set out as soon as the weather
cleared up and in a short time arrived at the head of Steel River where
it is formed by the junction of Fox and Hill Rivers.
