CHAPTER IV 



ATHABASCA DISTRICT 



CHIPPEWYAN 1 is situated at the extremity of a peninsula, 

 of irregular outlines, which is connected with the north 

 shore by a low, narrow neck. The red gneissic rock is fre- 

 quently exposed, and at intervals, as between the promontory 

 occupied by the Company's buildings and that on which the 

 mission stands, has been ground into sand of a characteristic 

 color which forms a pretty beach. The hollows between the 

 broken hills support a muskeg growth of moss and tamarack, 

 while the scanty soil of the slopes affords a foothold for small 

 spruce and birch trees. 



Chippewyan is the leading post of Athabasca District and 

 is one of the most extensive establishments in the North, being 

 second only to Simpson, the chief station in Mackenzie District. 

 The buildings are of hewed logs and whip-sawed lumber. The 

 "Grahame," a fair-sized stern-wheel steamer (and during the 

 winter of 1895-6 a second vessel, to replace the first) was built 

 there, also with hand-sawed lumber. 



Upon the rocks just east of the quadrangle of whitewashed 

 Company's buildings stands a small tower, which was built 

 nearly a century ago in order to watch the movements of the 

 Indians, who it was feared, were planning to massacre the 

 whites. One of their medicine men had prophesied that peace 

 and plenty were in store for them if the whites were extermin- 

 ated, and that other traders would soon come in, bringingmore 

 and better goods. Until the amalgamation of the fur com- 



x Lake Athabasca and Chippewyan, are both known as Athabasca. The 

 settlement is called "Rabaska" by the metis. "Les sauvages l'appelaient 

 ayabaska a cause des grandes herbes qui en couvraient les bords, et les 

 'voyageurs' en ont fait' ' Rabaska' "! — Masson, L. R., Les Bourgeois, Vol. I, p. 

 36. 



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