EXPEDITIONS TO PACIFIC. 123 



three men by drowuiug, Robertsou, Carpenter and Leader ; another died, a young Eng- 

 lishman named Patterson, who succumbed to exposure, and was buried at Fort G-eorge. 



The second division of the party, about sixty in number, endeavoured to cross the 

 mountains in a westerly direction to Cariboo, but they were deteried by the immense 

 labour experienced in forcing a passage across the mountains and the difficulty of 

 penetrating through the heavy timber in the valleys. They turned in a southerly 

 direction, and succeeded in reaching the North Thompson. They here constructed large 

 rafts to descend the stream. They killed some of their horses, and "jagged" the meat, 

 cutting it in strips and drying it. The remainder of the horses, about forty or fifty, they 

 abandoned, and putting all their effects on the rafts, they proceeded to descend the swift 

 current of the river. As they approached what is called the Grand Eapid, at the head of 

 the fifteeu-mile canyon of the Thompson, the leading raft was engulfed in the torrent 

 before those navigating it were aware of the danger ; and two men were drawn within 

 the rapids and drowned. The rafts which followed avoided the fate of that before them : 

 by great effort those on board reached the shore in safety, and, with labour and difficulty, 

 forced their way up the precipitous banks. They managed to clamber along the clitTs to 

 the lower end of the canyon, where they formed a second set of rafts and proceeded to 

 shoot the lower rapids ; they arrived eventually in great distress at Kamloops on October 

 11th. On the following morning, Mrs. Schubert, who accompanied this branch of the 

 expedition, gave birth to a daughter.' The two men drowned in the Thompson were 

 "Wm. Strachan, of London, Ontario, and Frank Penw^arden, of St. Thomas. 



Of the 193 who left Ontario in 1862, the survivors now resident in British Columbia, 

 as far as known, are J. A. Mara, Mr. and Mrs. Schubert, A. McNaughton, John Bowron, 

 W. Fletcher, D. Simpson, Robert Heron, R. B. McMicking, W. H. Thompson, W. McKenzie, 

 "W. Halpenny, Geo. C. Tnnstall, D. McQuarrie, R. H. Alexander, Capt. RedgraA'^e, A. 

 McConnell, J. B. McQueen, AV. Fortune and J. Fannin, curator of the Provincial Museum 

 at Victoria. The four last named, with Mr. and Mrs. Schubert, came down by the 

 Thompson. The writer is chiefly indebted for information to Mr. Fannin. 



There is a record of a third party which, late in the autumn of 18G2, arrived at the 

 Yellow Head Pass. It consisted of three brothers named Rennie and two men named 

 Helstone and Wright. They obtained canoes from the Shuswap Indians to descend the 

 Fraser. The canoes being found bottom upwards with the effects of the men strewn 

 along the banks, led to the belief that they had been drowned. The terrible fate of three 

 of the men became afterwards known. In the descent of the river the men had lashed the 

 canoes together for safety, but they were swamped in a rapid ; two of the Rennies gained 

 the shore, the other three men succeeded in reaching a rock. Au attempt was made 

 during two days to rescue them. Finally they were hauled ashore, prostrate with fatigue 

 and hunger, and from the frost which prevailed at night, they were so frost-bitten as to 

 be unable to proceed. The two who retained tlieir strength, cut a large quantity of fire- 

 wood, and, leaving as much of the provisions as they could spare to their comrades, who 

 were to remain behind, they started to obtain help at Fort George, which they imagined 

 to be nearer than w^as the case. It was not until the twenty-eighth day that they arrived 

 at the fort, frost-bitten, half-dead with hunger and fatigue. Some Indians were at once 



' ïlie child born on this occasion is now tlie wife of a well known settler in British Columbia. 



