1906-7. TRANSACTIONS. 83 



river, and discovered the second great portage of the west — Frog 

 Portage, connecting the waters of the Saskatchewan with those 

 of the Churchill. 



Still later, other Canadian traders ascended the Churchill 

 through He a la Crosse lake and reached Methye Portage — con- 

 necting the Churchill with Clearwater river, a tributary of the 

 Athabaska, and thus opening up the immense valleys of the 

 Peace and Mackenzie rivers. 



It may help to a clearer understanding of the subject to 

 trace briefly the routes of the fur-traders from the east to the 

 west. Under the French regime the field of the fur-traders 

 spread out gradually from the St. Lawrence to the country 

 about Lake Superior. To some extent the traders followed 

 the southern route by way of Lakes Ontario and Erie, but from 

 first to last the main highway to the west was up the Ottawa 

 to Lake Nipissing, and down French river to Lake Huron, thence 

 to Lake Superior or Lake Michigan and Green Bay. Many 

 portages led from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi; one by 

 way of Lake Erie and the Ohio, another from the foot of Lake 

 Michigan to the Illinois, and a third from Green Bay by way 

 of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. From Lake Superior two 

 routes were followed; one up the Kaministiktvia river, the other 

 the Grand Portage route. Both led to Rainy river and Lake 

 of the Woods, thence down the Winnipeg river to Lake Winni- 

 peg. 



Lake Winnipeg was in a sense the pivotal point in the whole 

 system of water transport, east, west, north and south. The 

 men of the Hudson's Bay Company reached the lake from their 

 trading posts on the bay by several routes, the most popular 

 of which was, and still is, by way of Hayes river, at the mouth 

 of which stands York Factory. The Nelson was used for a time, 

 but on account of the extreme difficulties of navigation was never 

 popular. Other occasional routes were by the Severn, and the 

 Albany. 



From Lake Winnipeg the highways of the fur-trade branched 

 out in every direction. The Hed river led down to the head- 

 waters of the Mississippi; the Assiniboine and Souris carried the 

 trader out into the heart of the buffalo country and within easy 

 reach of the Missouri; the Saskatchewan led him by several 

 routes to the Rocky mountains and the waterways of the Pacific 

 coast. At the headwaters of the two branches of the Sas- 



