Section IL, 1914 [183] Trans. R.S.C. 



Highways of the Fur Trade. 

 By Lawrence J. Burpee, F.R.S.C, F.R.G.S. 



(Read May 27, 1914). 



A glance at the map of the northern half of North America 

 readily suggests why the routes of the fur trade were almost invariably 

 water thoroughfares. Nowhere else in the world will one find such 

 a remarkable system of waterways as that of North America, and 

 particularly of the upper half of the continent. It is not merely 

 theoretically possible to travel in a canoe across the continent, east 

 and west, north and south, with an occasional portage, but the fact 

 has been demonstrated over and over again by explorers and fur- 

 traders. From Lake Winnipeg, in the heart of the continent, one 

 may paddle east up Winnipeg river to the Lake of the Woods, thence 

 by Rainy river, Rainy lake, and a series of smaller waterways over 

 the almost imperceptible height of land and down to Lake Superior, 

 coast along the shore of that inland sea, descend the St. Mary's river 

 to Lake Huron, and from there either follow the Great Lakes down 

 to the St. Lawrence, or take the old route by way of Georgian bay, 

 French river, Lake Nipissing and the Ottawa to Montreal. From 

 Lake Winnipeg, again, one may take either the Hayes route or the 

 Nelson to Hudson bay. From the same central lake, one may 

 ascend the Saskatchewan to the Rocky mountains and descend the 

 Columbia to the Pacific ; or, leaving the Saskatchewan at Cumberland 

 lake, paddle through a series of small waterways to the Churchill, 

 ascend that river to Lake La Loche, descend the Clearwater to the 

 Athabaska, the latter to Lake Athabaska, ascend Peace river to one 

 of its sources at the headwaters of the Parsnip, portage to the Fraser, 

 and descend that wild stream to the ocean. Again, following the last 

 route to Athabaska, one may descend Slave river to Great Slave 

 lake, and follow the mighty Mackenzie to the Arctic. Finally, re- 

 turning once more to Lake Winnipeg, one may ascend the Red river 

 to its upper waters, portage to the Mississippi and descend the Father 

 of Waters to the Gulf of Mexico. And these are but a few of many 

 possible routes from Lake Winnipeg to the shores of the three oceans. 

 The fur-traders did not need any gift of shrewdness to lead them to 

 the adoption of water routes. Water routes were practically thrust 

 upon them. Wherever they went they found some river flowing to 

 or from the place they sought, and that river was generally the easiest 

 and often the only road to follow. 



Sec. I and II, 1914—13 



