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INTRODUCTION. 



Fort Rae is one of the posts of the Hudson's Bay Company. It is situated in 

 Lat. 62° 38' 52" N., and Long. 115° 43' 50" W. on a bay on the northern shore of the Great 

 Slave Lake, and was selected for occupation as being the most northerly of the Company's 

 posts, from which return would be possible, after the termination of the observations, before 

 the closing of the rivers. Had Fort Simpson been the station selected, the observers mio-ht 

 not improbably have been compelled to spend two winters at their post, as the route for 

 reti;rn might not have been open till the summer of 1884. 



Fort Rae is the nearest of all the Company's stations to the Magnetic Pole, and it presents 

 another advantage of a very practical nature. Provisions at the post are usually plentiful, 

 and this is by no means the case in all parts of the country. To have taken a year's full 

 supplies for the party would have materially increased the cost and diflBculty of transport. 



It should here be stated that it is mainly owing to the interest taken in the undertaking by 

 the Company's Directors in London, and to the co-operation cordially rendered by their 

 officers in Canada that the Expedition was able to carry its appointed task to completion. 



The Expedition also received material assistance, in the way of free transport of baggage, 

 from the following railroad and steamboat companies : — The London and North-western 

 Railway, the Grand Trunk Railway, and the Allan Line of Royal Mail Steamers. 



It was not until the 3rd of April 1882 that the sanction of the Government was definitely 

 obtained. It was at once decided that the organization should be military. Captain Henry P. 

 Dawson, of the Royal Artillery, was appointed to command the party ; the observers were 

 Serjeant J. English and Serjeant F. Cooksley, both of the Royal Horse Artillery, with 

 Gunner C. Wedenby, of the Royal Artillery, as artificer. 



From the time of departure of the Expedition until its return, the conduct and discipline 

 of these men was all that could be desired. They took great interest in the observations, and 

 did their best to carry them out with accuracy and punctuality. They were always contented 

 and cheerful, in spite of the inevitable discomforts of their winter quarters, and the 

 occasional hardships of the journey. 



The following was the equipment provided 



Instruments : 



2 mercurial barometers, Kew pat- 

 tern (marine). 



2 aneroid barometers. 



2 cup-and-dial anemometers (small 

 size). 



4 minimum thermometers. 



2 minimum (terrestrial radiation) 



thermometers. 

 2 hair hygrometers. 

 2 tubes for earth thermometers. 

 1 zinc thermometer screen (Wild's 



pattern). 

 10 mercurial thermometers. : 1 unifilar magnetometer. 



1 rain gauge 



'O' 



7 spirit „ 2 bifilar „ 



2 maximum ., 2 declinometers. 



2 ,, (solar radiation) ther- 1 Lloyd's balance magnetometer, 



mometers. 1 dip circle. 



