igii] The Coppermine Country 213 



"Mr. Norton had proposed an inland journey, far to the North of 

 Churchill, to promote an extension of our trade, as well as for the dis- 

 covery of a north-west passage, copper mines, &c.; and as an undertak- 

 ing of this nature requires the attention of a person capable of taking an 

 observation for determining the longitude and latitude, and also distances, 

 and the course of rivers and their depths, we have fixed upon you (espe- 

 cially as it is represented to us to be your own inclination) to conduct this 

 journey, with proper assistants. 



"We therefore hope you will second our expectations in readily 

 performing this service, and upon your return we shall willingly make 

 you any acknowledgment suitable to your trouble therein." 



Hearne was then a young man, 24 years of age, and as soon as pos- 

 sible after Norton's arrival home he made preparations for the journey 

 inland. On the 6th of November he left Churchill, or rather Fort Prince 

 of Wales, at the mouth of Churchill River, in company with a few Chip- 

 pewyan Indians and started north-westward on foot for the copper mine, 

 but he only got a short distance when the Indians left him and he was 

 obliged to return. 



After a couple of months at home he again started out in the middle 

 of winter and wandered over the Barren Grounds until the following 

 autumn, when, being again abandoned by his Indians, he was obliged to 

 return to his old home on Hudson Bay; but on the way home he had 

 met an Indian chief named Matonabbee, who offered to take him to the 

 Coppermine River, and who afterwards showed that he was able to sub- 

 stantiate his offer by accomplishment; so, on the 7th of December, 1770, 

 after having been home for only twelve days, he again started out on 

 foot for the Coppermine River, and this time, thanks to the leadership 

 of the great Indian whom he accompanied, he was able to reach the 

 country that he was in search of. 



Hearne knew nothing of mines or minerals, but, like many a man 

 similarly equipped since his day, he was sent to report on a great mining 

 property. Naturally, his report on the mine of copper is of little value, 

 but in his book he has given an exceedingly interesting account of life 

 among the Indians on the Barren Grounds in his day. What he has to 

 say, however, is interesting, as it is the first account of the occurrence of 

 the copper by an eye-witness. His remarks are as follows. — * 



"We arrived at one of the copper mines, which lies, from the river's 

 mouth about south southeast, distant about twenty-nine or thirty 

 miles. 



* A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort on Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean. 

 By Samuel Hearne. New Edition. Toronto, 1911. With Introduction and notes by 

 J. B. Tyrrell. Pp. 194 et seq. 



