XXVII 



FROM CHIPEWYAN TO THE RAILROAD 



FOR the second time on my trip luck attended me. It 

 was Wednesday, the I5th of May, when I reached Chip- 

 ewyan, and Dr. Mackay informed me a flatboat was to 

 start for McMurray on Friday. 



Every spring, so soon as the river opens, a sturgeon-head 

 boat, which is from forty to fifty feet long and from ten 

 to twelve feet wide amidships, is sent out from Chip- 



ewyan with the fur " packs" 

 and the men who work on 

 the transport at Grand Rap- 

 ids, an island whence the bat- 

 tue, as it is also called, is 

 rowed, where the river-banks 

 are too precipitous to per- 

 mit walking, and " tracked " 

 where footing is to be had. 



This "tracking" is a meth- 

 od of progression after the 



manner of canal-boat locomotion. There is a similar long 

 rope, and it is fastened to the battue and thence to the 

 chest of the draught animal, and the pace is slow only Ind- 

 ians in gangs are used instead of mules. This battue carries 

 the fur via McMurray to Grand Rapids, ninety miles be- 

 yond, where it meets the Hudson's Bay Company steamer, 

 which lands three miles north of the island. The steamer 





A HUDSON S BAY COMPANY 

 FUR " PACK " 



