132 



EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



canoe. As the river was full of floating ice we were to follow 

 the " slough," a channel with little current, which cuts off a 

 large island just below the post. We found the slough covered 

 with young ice which had formed during the night, and had to 

 wait two hours for the morning sun to melt it. We reached 

 the "Wrigley" at 2 p. m., and a half hour later we were steam- 

 ing down the river. The ice was running in a heavy pack before 

 us so that we ran at half speed, and even came to anchor twice 

 to allow the swift current to clear the ice away. 



We reached Simpson on the 5th. This, the largest establish- 

 ment in the north, is situated at the mouth of the Liard River. 

 It is the central post of the Mackenzie District, to which the 

 goods were brought in former times to be distributed to the 

 various stations between Nelson and the Yukon. The depots 

 are now little used. An upper floor of one of the buildings is 

 occupied by the museum, which contains a few geological and 

 ethnological specimens, and a number of birds and mammals 

 which have been mounted by Captain Bell. The collection 

 makes a creditable showing of the fauna of that region and 

 deserves better quarters, free from dust and museum pests. 



The " Mackenzie River Library" contained several hundred 

 volumes, nearly all of which had been carried over miles of por- 

 tages on men's backs, by way of the long boat route to York Fac- 

 tory. I there read, for the first time, the account of the Journey 

 to a Northern Ocean in 17JI, by that excellent observer, Samuel 

 Hearne. I had just visited the territory which he has so quaintly 

 described, and was in a position to appreciate the accurate and 

 truthful account which he has given of the" Northern Indians." 



We continued our journey upon the 10th of June. Seventy 

 miles below Simpson we passed the Nahanni River which enters 

 from the west. The Nahanni Mountains, a spur of the Rockies, 

 rising to a height of three thousand feet, here deflect the Mac- 

 kenzie toward the north. Fifty miles below, the river breaks 

 through this range, which extends several hundred miles farther 

 to the northward. The higher elevations were covered with 

 snow, though it all disappeared during the summer. 



We stopped for wood, at a high bank just above Norman, 

 where extensive beds of lignite were burning. A recently caved 

 portion exposed a section of lignite eight feet in thickness. 1 



1 W. F. Wentzel, an officer of the Northwest Company, wrote in 1807: 



