The Provision Qiiestion 37 



not be obviated by carrying food. I have been 

 asked, in a word, why I did not haul supplies. 

 The patent answer is that, in the first place, I 

 had none to take ; and that, in the second place, 

 if I had had a car-load at Great Slave Lake to 

 draw upon, I would have been unable to carry 

 provisions with me into the Barren Grounds. It 

 is to be remembered that Great Slave Lake, 

 where I outfitted for the Barren Grounds, is nine 

 hundred miles from the railroad, that every 

 pound of provision is freighted by water usually, 

 or by dog sledge on emergency. The Hudson's 

 Bay Company's posts, beginning at Athabasca 

 Landing, are located along the great waterways 

 — Athabasca, Slave, Mackenzie rivers — about 

 every two hundred miles. These are small trad- 

 ing posts, having powder and ball, and things to 

 wear, and of ornament, rather than things to eat. 

 Provisions are taken in, but to a limited extent, 

 and there is never a winter which does not see 

 the end of the company's supplies before the ice 

 breaks up and the first boat of the year arrives. 

 There is never a plenty even for the usual de- 

 mand, and an unusual demand, if it is to be met, 

 means a trimming all round. In snow-shoeing 

 from the railroad to Great Slave Lake I secured 



