DOWN TO THE SEA 



Large, properly constructed river boats might be taken up 

 stream without difficulty for a distance of 150 miles to the 

 confluence of the west branch, and how far they might be 

 able to ascend that large stream it is impossible for me to 

 say.* "With the exception of perhaps one spot — the canyon 

 rapid north of Dubawnt Lake — I believe the whole river from 

 the Height of Land to Baker Lake might be navigated by 

 river or York boats with comparative ease. At the rapid a 

 portage would have to be made. 



I think it important to mention the above possibilities of 

 access to this country, on account of the fact that from 

 Dubawnt Lake to Baker Lake there stretches an extended area 

 of promising mineral-bearing Huronian schists and trappean 

 rocks, a series very similar to the silver, copper and gold 

 bearing rocks of the north shore of Lake Superior and Lake 

 of the Woods districts. The time must come — it may not be 

 far distant — when the prospector and the miner will occupy 

 all this vast field of mineral wealth.f 



From the head of Baker Lake we were now to commence 

 a new stage of the journey. The rough maps in our posses- 

 sion enabled us to form a fair idea of our prospective route. 

 From our camp to the mouth of Chesterfield Inlet, on the 

 coast of Hudson Bay, measured about 250 miles, and thence 

 down the coast of the bay to Fort Churchill, a Hudson's Bay 

 Company's post and the nearest habitation of white men, 

 measured 500 more ; so that Y50 miles was the least distance 

 we had to figure on travelling before the close of navigation. 



It was now the month of September, and as winter is 

 known to set in very early in the Hudson Bay district, my 



♦For full geological and mineralogical details regarding this dis- 

 trict, see J. B. Tyrrell's report for 1893, published by the Geological 

 Survey Department of Canada. 



f I have discovered through later exploration that this west branch, 

 now named the Thelon River, is free from obstructions for a dis- 

 tance of 224 miles, making in all an unbroken stretch of river 

 navigation of 374 miles. 



163 



