91 Northern search 



In the morning, in spite of a thick haze of smoke, we took off 

 and followed the Athabaska toward Lake Claire, beyond Fort 

 Chipewyan on Lake Athabaska, and on to our destination at Fort 

 Smith, beyond the Slave River rapids. En route we ran sample 

 duck counts over the 800 square miles of the Lake Claire marshes 

 and the 500 square miles of the Athabaska delta. In the Lake 

 Claire marshes we flew over scattered bands of the greatest wild 

 herd of bison that remains on the North American continent. It 

 was a magnificent sight, these huge animals roaming at large and 

 under primitive conditions. We saw two big buffalo wolves trotting 

 along on the rear flank of one herd, the nearest group of cows and 

 calves apparently paying no attention to them. After all, in a 

 completely wild state the wolves have always been there, and so 

 are simply an accepted and integral part of the scenery. 



After a pleasant night at Fort Smith, we set out rather late 

 the following morning, because of a localized drizzle. But Signals 

 reported a 4,000-foot overcast at the eastern end of Great Slave 

 Lake, and clear at Hay River, so we took off and at one o'clock 

 that afternoon we landed on the airstrip at Hay River and had 

 lunch in the dusty and then only mildly booming settlement. 

 We were anxious to move on and decided to continue as far as 

 Fort Simpson, down the Mackenzie River at the mouth of the 

 Liard. This would put us on into new territory for both of us. 

 By three-thirty we were over the head of the Mackenzie, which 

 stretched off into illimitable distances. As we flew on we could 

 see, up ahead of us, vast mountain ranges and jagged peaks, 

 blanketed in clouds. Beyond Jean Marie River we left the main 

 stream and dove in low, over muskegs and forests of tamarack and 

 spruce, to see what ducks might be nesting on the shallow lakes 

 of that area. Then on to the Simpson strip, where we put down 

 at five- thirty. We were now on our way into the real North. An- 

 other day of flying and we would be close to the Arctic Circle. 



Next morning we were again late getting off the ground, as the 

 airstrip is six miles up the Liard River from the settlement and 

 we had come downstream the evening before in a freight canoe 

 paddled by a crew of Indians. So, in the morning, we had to work 

 our way upstream against the current. Fortunately the game 



