Across the Sub-Arctics of Canada: A Journey of 3,200 Miles by Canoe and Snowshoe Through the Barren Lands
On the morning of the 10th of May, 1893, in response to a telegram from Ottawa, I took train at Hamilton for Toronto, to meet my brother, J. Burr Tyrrell, of the Canadian Geological Survey, and make final arrangements for a trip to the North. He had been authorized by the Director of that most important department of the Canadian Government to conduct, in company with myself, an exploration survey through the great mysterious region of terra incognitacommonly known as the Barren Lands, more than two hundred thousand square miles in extent, lying north of the 59th parallel of latitude, between Great Slave Lake and Hudson Bay. Of almost this entire territory less was known than of the remotest districts of “Darkest Africa,” and, with but few exceptions, its vast and dreary plains had never been trodden by the foot of man, save that of the dusky savage. During the summer of 1892 my brother had obtained some information concerning it from the Chippewyan Indians in the vicinity of Athabasca and Black Lakes, but even these native tribes were found to have only the vaguest ideas of the character of the country that lay beyond a few days’ journey inland. In addition to this meagre information, he had procured sketch maps of several canoe routes leading northward toward the Barren Lands. The most easterly of these routes commenced at a point on the north shore of Black Lake, and the description obtained of it was as follows: “Beginning at Black Lake, you make a long portage northward to a little lake, then across five or six more small ones and a corresponding number of portages, and a large body of water called Wolverine Lake will be reached. Pass through this, and ascend a river flowing into it from the northward, until Active Man Lake is reached. This lake will take two days to cross, and at its northern extremity the Height of Land will be reached. Over this make a portage until another large lake of about equal size is entered. From the north end of this second large lake, a great river flows to the northward through a treeless country unknown to the Indians, but inhabited by savage Eskimos. Where the river empties into the sea we cannot tell, but it flows a great way to the northward.” From the description given, it appeared that this river must flow through the centre of the unexplored territory, and thence find its way either into the waters of Hudson Bay or into the Arctic Ocean. It was by this route we resolved to carry on the exploration, and, if possible, make our way through the Barren Lands. One of the first and most important preparations for the journey was the procuring of suitable boats, inasmuch as portability, strength and carrying capacity were all essential qualities. These were obtained from the Peterboro’ Canoe Company, who furnished us with two beautiful varnished cedar canoes, eighteen feet in length, and capable of carrying two thousand pounds each, while weighing only one hundred and twenty pounds. Arrangements had also been made to have a nineteen foot basswood canoe, used during the previous summer, and two men in readiness at Fort McMurray on the Athabasca River. Four other canoemen were chosen to complete the party, three of them being Iroquois experts from Caughnawaga, Quebec. These three were brothers, named Pierre, Louis and Michel French. Pierre was a veteran canoeman, being as much at home in a boiling rapid as on the calmest water. For some years he had acted as ferryman at Caughnawaga, and only recently had made a reputation for himself by running the Lachine Rapids on Christmas day, out of sheer bravado. His brother Louis had won some distinction also through having accompanied Lord Wolseley as a voyageur on his Egyptian campaigns; while Michel, the youngest and smallest of the three, was known to be a good steady fellow, boasting of the same distinction as his brother Louis.