Having
crossed Knee Lake which is nine miles in length and a portage at its
western extremity we entered Primeau Lake with a strong and favourable
wind, by the aid of which we ran nineteen miles through it and encamped
at the river's mouth. It is shaped like the barb of an arrow with the
point towards the north and its greatest breadth is about four miles.
During the night a torrent of rain washed us from our beds accompanied
with the loudest thunder I ever heard. This weather continued during the
29th and often compelled us to land and turn the canoes up to prevent
them from filling. We passed one portage and the confluence of a river
said to afford by other rivers beyond a height of land a shorter but more
difficult route to the Athabasca Lake than that which is generally
pursued.
On the 28th we crossed the last portage and at ten A.M. entered the Isle
a la Crosse Lake. Its long succession of woody points, both banks
stretching towards the south till their forms were lost in the haze of
the horizon, was a grateful prospect to us after our bewildered and
interrupted voyage in the Missinippi. The gale wafted us with unusual
speed and as the lake increased in breadth the waves swelled to a
dangerous height. A canoe running before the wind is very liable to burst
asunder when on the top of a wave so that part of the bottom is out of
the water, for there is nothing to support the weight of its heavy cargo
but the bark and the slight gunwales attached to it.
On making known our exigencies to the gentlemen in charge of the Hudson's
Bay and North-West Companies' forts they made up an assortment of stores
amounting to five bales, for four of which we were indebted to Mr. McLeod
of the North-West Company who shared with us the ammunition absolutely
required for the support of his post, receiving in exchange an order for
the same quantity upon the cargo which we expected to follow us from York
Factory. We had heard from Mr. Stuart that Fort Chipewyan was too much
impoverished to supply the wants of the Expedition and we found Isle a la
Crosse in the same condition; which indeed we might have foreseen from
the exhausted state of Cumberland House but could not have provided
against. We never had heard before our departure from York that the posts
in the interior only received annually the stores necessary for the
consumption of a single year. It was fortunate for us that Mr. Franklin
had desired ten bags of pemmican to be sent from the Saskatchewan across
the plains to Isle a la Crosse for our use. This resource was untouched
but we could not embark more than five pieces in our own canoes. However
Mr. McLeod agreed to send a canoe after us to the Methye Portage with the
pemmican, and we calculated that the diminution of our provision would
there enable us to receive it.
The Beaver River enters this lake on the South-East side, and another
river which has not been named on the South-West. Both these rivers are
branches of the Missinippi as it is the only outlet from the lake. The
banks appeared to be rocky and the beach in many places sandy but its
waters are yellow and muddy. It produces a variety of fish among which
its white-fish are esteemed the best in the country. The only birds
visible at this season are common to every part of the Missinippi; gulls,
ducks, pigeons, goatsuckers, and the raven; and geese and swans pay a
momentary visit in passing to the north and returning.
There was little in the forts differing from the establishments that we
had before seen. The ground on which they are erected is sandy and
favourable to cultivation. Curiosity however was satisfied by the first
experiment and utility alone has been unable to extend it. Isle a la
Crosse is frequented by the Crees and the Chipewyans. It is not the dread
of the Indians but of one another that has brought the rival Companies so
close together at every trading post, each party seeking to prevent the
other from engaging the affections of the natives and monopolising the
trade. Whenever a settlement is made by the one the other immediately
follows, without considering the eligibility of the place, for it may
injure its opponent though it cannot benefit itself, and that advantage,
which is the first object of all other commercial bodies, becomes but the
second with the fur traders.
On the evening of the 30th we embarked and entered a wide channel to the
northward of the forts and extending towards the north-west. It gradually
decreased in breadth till it became a river which is the third fork of
the Missinippi and, its current being almost insensible, we entered the
Clear Lake at ten A.M. on the 1st of July. Of this lake, which is very
large, no part is known except the south border, but its extent would
lead us to conclude that its evaporation must be supplied by another
river to the northward, especially as the small channel that communicates
with Buffalo Lake is motionless. The existence of such a river is
asserted by the Indians, and a shorter passage might be found by it
across the height of land to Clear Water River than the portage from the
Methye Lake.
In Buffalo Lake the wind was too strong for us to proceed and we
therefore encamped upon a gravel beach thrown up by the waves. We
embarked at three A.M. July 2nd and at four P.M. entered the mouth of the
Methye River.
