EDITOR'S IXTRODUCTIOX 11 



a surgeon who had been for six years in the Company's 

 service, testified " that the Indians brought down the ore 

 at the request of Governor Norton," and also " that he had 

 heard the late Mr. Norton say that he had been at this mine 

 and that a considerable quantity of copper might be brought 

 down." ^ It is not probable that Browne's statement with 

 reference to Norton having visited the Coppermine River is 

 correct, but it would be rash to deny that such a journey had 

 been accomplished until the letters and records of the Hudson's 

 Bay Company are finally made public. 



After the unsuccessful voyages of Captains Knight and 

 Scroggs, several other expeditions were sent from Churchill 

 northward along the shore of Hudson Bay. Most of these 

 doubtless more than paid their way by trading for furs with 

 the Eskimos, but to the outside public they were ostensibly 

 to find the North-West Passaore to China and the " mine " of 

 copper ore. The most important of these expeditions were 

 those of the Furnace and Discovery under Captains Middle- 

 ton and Moor, in 174 1-2, and of the Dobbs and California 

 under Captains Moor and Smith in 1746-7. After these 

 expeditions, interest in the copper may have languished for 

 a while, but the numerous references to it in the Hudson's 

 Bay Report of 1749 show that it was not by any means 

 forgotten. 



Meanwhile, Richard Norton of Churchill had died, and 

 his half-breed son Moses Norton had been appointed Governor 

 in his stead. In the year 1767 the remains of Knight's ill- 

 fated expedition were found on Marble Island, and the 

 thoughts of the people on Hudson Bay were undoubtedly 

 again turned to the object for which his voyage had been 

 undertaken. To add to the interest in the copper, the 

 Northern Indians, who came to Churchill in the year 1768, 

 brought with them some fine specimens of ore which they said 

 came from Coppermine River. By this time Governor Moses 



^ Hudson's Bay Report, 1749, p. 226. 



