262 EXPEDITION TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. [1788. 



prietor at the trading-post ; and nearly four years elapsed between 

 the period of ordering the goods in Canada, and that at which the 

 furs could be sold in London. 



Before the formation of the North-West Company, the farther- 

 most trading establishment of British subjects was one on the 

 Athabasca or Elk River, about twelve hundred miles north-west of 

 Lake Superior, which had been founded by Messrs. Frobisher and 

 Pond, in 1778 ; and this continued to be the principal post in that 

 part of the continent for ten years, when it was abandoned, and 

 another, called Fort Chipewyan, was established on the south-west 

 side of the Athabasca Lake, or Lake of the Hills, into which 

 the Elk River discharges its waters. In the mean time, several 

 large parties had been sent, for the purposes of trade and discovery, 

 from Canada towards the west, one of which, consisting of about 

 a hundred men, penetrated to the foot of the great dividing chain 

 then called the Shining Mountains, or Mountains of Bright Stones, 

 and now commonly known as the Rocky Mountains ; * but they were 



* Of this expedition an account appeared in a letter written at Pittsburg, in 1791, 

 by an officer of General St. Clair's army, and published in the Collections of the 

 Massachusetts Historical Society for 1794. The writer, whose name is not given, 



received his information from a Mr. M , who had, as he said, commanded the 



party in question. The following extracts will show the principal circumstances 

 connected with the expedition, and among them will be found nothing which should 

 induce us to doubt the truth of the account : — 



" Mr. M. stated that he had, about five years ago, departed from Montreal, with 

 a company of about one hundred men, for the purpose of making a tour through the 

 Indian countries, to collect furs, and to make remarks, &c. He pursued his route 

 from Montreal, and entered the Indian country, and coasted about three hundred 

 leagues along the banks of Lake Superior, whence he made his way to the Lake of 

 the Woods, of which he took an accurate survey, and found it to be thirty-six leagues 

 in length, and thence to Lake Ounipique, [Winnipeg,] of which he also gives a 

 description. The tribes of Indians through which he passed were called the Mus- 

 kego, Shipewyan, Cithnistinee, Great-belly, Beaver, Blood, Black-feet, Snake, 

 Ossnobian, Shiveyton, Mandon, Paunee, and several others, &c. In pursuing his 

 route, he found no difficulty in obtaining a guide to accompany him from one nation 

 to another, until he reached the foot of the Shining Mountains, or Mountains of Bright 

 Stones, where, in attempting to pass, he was frustrated by the hostile appearance of 

 the Indians who inhabit that part of the country ; the consequence of which was, 

 that he was disappointed in his intention, and obliged to turn his back upon them. 

 Having collected a number of Indians, he went forward again, with an intention to 

 force his way over these mountains, if necessary and practicable, and to reach Cook's 

 River, on the north-west coast of America, supposed by him to be about three 

 hundred leagues from the mountains; but the inhabitants of the mountains again met 

 him with their bows and arrows, and so superior were they in numbers to his little 

 forces, that he was obliged to flee before them. Cold weather coming on, he built 

 huts for himself and party in the Ossnobian [Assinaboin] country, and near to the 

 source of a large river called the Ossnobian River, where they tarried during the 

 cold season, and until some time in the warm months." 



