130 SANDFOED FLEMING ON 



miles, to the summit ol' the Rocky Mouutaius, where the Hue joined that which had been 

 established from the Pacific coast by a similar commission thirteen years earlier. 



The boundary line for the greater part of tho distance passed through open ground ; 

 where forest land was encountered the trees were ciit down and a continuous open i^assage 

 formed. Dr. Gr. M. Dawson accompanied the expedition as geologist and naturalist. On 

 the completion of the field work, at the end of 1874, he reported the results obtained. 

 The published volume consists of 379 printed pages, replete with information respecting 

 the resources of the entire distance surveyed. 



(6) Journey of Messrs. Jarvis and Hanninglon, 18*74-18*7-5. 



The overland exploration of Messrs. Jarvis and Hannington is worthy of record. They 

 had been engaged in 18t4 on a section of the survey of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 

 British Columbia. It being deemed advisable to gain information respecting the Smoky 

 River pass, Mr. E. W. Jarvis was selected for the duty, and at the beginning of winter he 

 received instructions to begin exploration. On December 9th, 18'74, with his assistant Mr. 

 Hannington, he left Quesnel on the Fraser for Fort George, to complete his arrangements 

 and obtain an outfit. So soon as the ice was frozen on the rivers, the party, consisting 

 of eight men and six dog trains, started on the hazardous journey across the mountains. 

 They left the Fraser above the Giscome portage, following the North Branch until it 

 terminated in a ail de sac. They returned to ascend a second branch and finally reached 

 the continental " divide " on February 25th. After leaving the summit, the dogs 

 became unserviceable from frostbites and exhaustion, so that each man was compelled to 

 carry on his back a share of the necessary supplies, leaving behind everything not abso- 

 lutely required. They were also placed on short rations. The party crossed an extremely 

 broken mountainous region intersected by tributaries of the Smoky and Athabasca Rivers. 

 The snow was deep, the temperature low and the weather unusually stormy in the 

 elevated region they passed over. Thoy were on the verge of starvation and every member 

 of the party suffered greatly from fatigue and exposure. Nevertheless they succeeded 

 eventually in reaching Jaspar House on March 5th to find it unoccupied. They, 

 however, in their exhausted condition were fortunate in meeting in the neighbourhood 

 a band of Indians who supplied them with some provisions — all they could spare from 

 their meagre store. The weary travellers continued their journey eastward over 200 

 miles to St. Anne, which they reached in twelve days. Here they found rest and food 

 under the hospitable roof of a Hudson's Bay Company's establishment. From St. Anne 

 they drove to Edmonton, thence to Fort Pitt and Carlton and arrived at Winnipeg on 

 May 21st. 



The journey from Fort George to "Winnipeg occupied 116 days, the distance being 1887 

 miles, of which 932 miles were traversed on snow-shoes. The temperature was at times 

 exceedingly low. For twenty consecutive days in January the thermometer averaged 37 

 degrees below zero. Mr. Jarvis' narrative of the journey is incliided in the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway Report of 1877. Mr. Hanuington's diary is given in the report of Canadian 

 Archives for 1887 (pp. ex, cxxxii.) 



