The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



VOL. XXXVI 



OTTAWA, ONT., APRIL, 1922. 



No. 4 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES ALONG FOURTEEN HUNDRED MILES OF THE 

 MACKENZIE RIVER SYSTEM. 



By M. Y. Williams 



THE following observations were made while 

 on an exploration trip in the Mackenzie 

 River valley for the Geological Survey of Canada 

 in the summer of 192L The writer travelled in 

 company with Dr. G. S. Hume and Mr. E. J. 

 Whittaker, officers of the Geological Survey, as far 

 as Fort Providence, where Mr. Whittaker started 

 exploration. Dr. Hume and the writer kept in 

 touch with each other throughout the summer. 



ITINERARY 



From Peace River Town on Peace River, down 

 stream to Lake Athabasca outlet, thence down 

 stream via the Slave River to Great Slave Lake, 

 down the lake 125 miles to the head of Mackenzie 

 River, thence downward 550 miles to the site of 

 the oil well 58 miles below Fort Norman which 

 has so recently stirred the public imagination. 



We started at Peace River Town on May 19; 

 our farthest north was the Imperial oil well, 

 fifty odd miles below Port Norman, which we 

 visited on August 13-14. Returning from Nor- 

 man on August 21, we reached Smith on Septem- 

 ber 4, and McMurray, via Athabasca River, 

 September 9; the round trip aggregating about 

 2700 miles. 



TOPOGRAPHY AND FLORA. 

 The country between Peace River Town and 

 Fort Vermillion is high, rolling prairie, more or 

 less covered with poplar and willow. Below, the 

 general characters are best described as muskeg. 

 Sphagnum moss is the common carpet, black 

 spruce the common forest tree. Sand ridges 

 covered with jack pine are sparsely distributed, 

 and stands of black poplar are interspersed be- 

 tween muskeg areas. Alders border the streams, 

 and white birch and white poplar occupy the bet- 

 ter land along the rivers. Numerous lakes occur, 

 mostly of shallow character, Such is the country 

 visited, except where the mountains bring relief 

 to the sight as well as to the landscape. From the 

 mouth of the North Nahannie to Fort Wrigley 

 mountains are the controlling landscape feature, 

 and from here down stream they are rarely more 

 than ten miles from the river. The ubiquitous 



muskeg, however, is indomitable and laps the 

 hillsides, and even the tops of the low ridges, 

 holding perpetual frost little below the moss roots. 

 The wood flowers, including beautiful Ladies' 

 Slippers and other fine orchids, are common in 

 June, while the thrushes sing, accompanied by 

 White-throats, White-crowns and other wood 

 songsters. July is the time of fireweed — the burns 

 on the uplands and mountain sides are pink with 

 it. August is the time of asters, and, after the 

 middle of the month, of the yellowing poplar, of 

 the reddening leaves of the fireweed and, in 

 general, of the fading leaf. 



The following species of plants were collected 

 between Ft. Simpson and Ft. Wrigley in 1921 by 

 the author, and identified by Professor John 

 Davidson, botanist in charge of the Herbarium 

 and Botanical Gardens of the University of 

 British Columbia. 



Potentilla fruticosa (Shrubby Cinqfoil.) 

 Achillea millefolium (Yarrow.) 

 Gentiana sceplrum (Swamp Gentian.) 

 Parnassia palusfris (Grass of Parnassus.) 

 Elaeagnus argenteus (Buffalo Berry.) 

 Campanula rotundifolia (Scottish Blue Bell.) 

 Hedysarum Mackenzii (Hedysarum.) 

 Galium boreale (Northern Bedstraw.) 

 Castilleja, sp? (Indian Paint-brush.) 

 Pinguicula vulgaris? (Butterwort). 

 Cypripedium passerinum (Northern Lady's 

 Slipper.) 



Cypripedium parviflornm (Small Yellow 

 Lady's Slipper.) 



Orchis rotundifolia (Round-leaved orchid.) 

 Anemone patens wolfgangiana *(Prairie Ane- 

 mone.) 



Asplenium viride. (Spleenwort.) 

 Campanula Sp? 



FAUNA. 



According to Preble, the Mackenzie valley, as 



traversed by the author, falls within the Canadian 



Life Zone, the Mackenzie and Franklin mountains, 



however, being within the Hudsonian Zone. As 



♦This species not previously found east of the Rockies, 

 according to the records in the Geol. Survey Herbarium. 



