THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION. 229 



the construction of canals, dams, and short roads, for 

 facilitating the navigation of the lakes and rivers that 

 lay along it, and for establishing land communications 

 between them. The first link in the chain was to be 

 a road of about 29 miles from Thunder Bay to Dog 

 Lake by means of which the difficult navigation of 

 the Ivaministiquia River was to be avoided. 



Little attention was, however, paid to the subject 

 until 1868, when the road was begun. In the fol- 

 lowing year a better pass over the hills than that by 

 Dog Lake was discovered, necessitating, however, a 

 lengthening of the road from Thunder Bay to about 

 48 miles. As the word " portage " will frequently 

 be met with in all narratives of H"orth American 

 travel, the reader should remember that it means 

 a break in a chain of water communication, over 

 which canoes and stores have to be carried on the 

 men's backs. 



The new route was therefore 48 miles by road 

 through the forest to Shebandowan Lake, and from 

 thence about 310 miles by rivers and lakes (with 

 about 17 portages), to the Lake of the Woods. 

 Some of these portages were more than a mile in 

 length ; and when it is remembered that all the boats 

 and stores, &c. &c., required for the Expedition, had 

 to be carried by the soldiers over these breaks in the 

 navigation, an idea can be formed of the physical 

 labour which such an operation would entail. From 

 the Lake of the Woods to Fort Garry was about 100 



VOL. I. Q 



