EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 101 



On the 3rd of July, all our preparations were made to start for 

 the Peace River and now our company was reduced to eight. In 

 the "Nechaco" were myself, Mr. Webster, the geologist, and John 

 Mclennan, who had charge of the commissariat. In a light 

 skiff were Dr. Selwyn and two young Indians, and, in a dugout 

 made of poplar, were Anderson and Hillier, the cook. 



About two o'clock in the afternoon, we started and all the 

 inhabitants of the post and a number of Indians who were there 

 came out to see us make our start, and they all expected that we 

 would never reach Hudson's Hope alive as our boats were frail 

 and the capacity for river work that had been shown by us at 

 the Fort was of no account. 



Dr. Selwyn gave orders, at the start, that he was going to 

 micrometer the river and instructed Anderson and Hillier what 

 they were to do. The "Nechaco," being a large boat and carrying 

 the most of the baggage, was not required to do anything but 

 only to proceed with the rest. All went well for about half an 

 hour, when Hillier and Anderson stopped at a bend of the river 

 to give Dr. Selwyn a sight. At this point, the current was very 

 strong and ran with great force under the bend. They stopped 

 and the current caught the canoe and caused it to turn over and 

 both men were thrown into the rapid river. We, in the "Ne- 

 chaco," were opposite the men when they were thrown into the 

 water and, as they were carried off in the current, we worked hard to 

 overtake them, but failed. However, Anderson was thrown on 

 the shore some distance below and we found that he was only 

 slightly out of breath, and Hillier kept hold of the canoe and was 

 caught some distance further down by Dr. Selwyn and the boys. 

 This ended our survey of the river — it was never attempted again 

 as long as I was with the party. We made camp right away and 

 felt consoled for the loss of the bacon when the men were saved, 

 but each man felt from that day forward that he was in more 

 than common danger. 



On the evening of the 8th, we reached the forks of the Finlay 

 and Parsnip rivers and camped. During the evening, I told Dr. 

 Selwyn that when I came up the Peace in 1872 I was told that 

 there was a very large eddy at the junction of the two rivers and, by 



