Hundred and twenty miles that the Expedition travelled in
1820 up to the time of its residence at Fort Enterprise.
CHAPTER 8.
TRANSACTIONS AT FORT ENTERPRISE.
MR. BACK'S NARRATIVE OF HIS JOURNEY TO CHIPEWYAN, AND RETURN.
TRANSACTIONS AT FORT ENTERPRISE.
September 1820.
During our little expedition to the Copper-Mine River Mr. Wentzel had
made great progress in the erection of our winter-house having nearly
roofed it in. But before proceeding to give an account of a ten months'
residence at this place, henceforth designated Fort Enterprise, I may
premise that I shall omit many of the ordinary occurrences of a North
American winter as they have been already detailed in so able and
interesting a manner by Ellis* and confine myself principally to the
circumstances which had an influence on our progress in the ensuing
summer. The observations on the magnetic needle, the temperature of the
atmosphere, the Aurora Borealis, and other meteorological phenomena,
together with the mineralogical and botanical notices, being less
interesting to the general reader, are omitted in this edition.
(*Footnote. Voyage to Hudson's Bay in the Dobbs and California.)
The men continued to work diligently at the house and by the 30th of
September had nearly completed it for our reception when a heavy fall of
rain washed the greater part of the mud off the roof.
