76 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 



only remaining alternative which was to proceed to the Rocky 

 Mountain Portage and take my chance of finding a boat or canoe 

 with which to ascend the river." 



"Several days having been lost in getting men and horses for 

 the trip and collecting large supplies of fresh moose, pemmican, 

 and other provisions, it was three o'clock in the afternoon of the 

 nineteenth when Mr. Kennedy, William, two Indians and myself 

 crossed the Peace River with part of our baggage, and seven horses, 

 en route for the Rocky Mountain Portage, distant some fifty miles. 

 The stream being three hundred yards wide with a very strong 

 current the usual difficulty and loss of time was experienced in 

 getting the horses across. I ascended a hill on the north side 

 ahead of Mr. Kennedy and took an excellent point from which 

 to look over the country. 



"The appearance of Mr. Kennedy with the horses caused me 

 to abandon the delightful prospect and, taking a last look at the 

 Fort and river, I saw two "dug-outs" (canoes) pushing off with 

 Mr. Macoun and the rest of the luggage. "They have a strong 

 current against them all the way to the portage," said Mr. Ken- 

 nedy. 



I had wondered at the time why we did not all go overland, 

 but Mr. Kennedy told me, three years later, when I was there in 

 1875, that Mr. Horetzky intended to go ahead of me as it was a 

 doubtful matter whether we would get through or not and he 

 thought he would get through whether the winter set in or not. 



When he reached the far end of the portage beyond Hudson's 

 Hope, he found that, with the exception of the boat which I had 

 engaged, he could not proceed and required more men to navigate 

 than he had with him. He then decided to send over the portage 

 for me and the men whom I had with me. This is his account of 

 the situation: "At eight o'clock Kennedy and I, having turned in, 

 were about composing ourselves to sleep when the wind, which 

 had latterly been unsteady, veered to the south and blew with 

 such terrific violence that we were obliged to turn out and fell 

 several large pine trees which stood in the vicinity and threatened 

 us with destruction. The cracking of falling trees was heard all 

 night and effectually banished sleep. The following evening, Mr. 



