4 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



will exhibit the designs of the Canadian Government in 

 despatching this expedition : — 



(( The primary object of the expedition is to make a thorough 

 examination of the tract of country between Lake Superior and 

 Ked River, by which may be determined the best route for 

 opening a facile communication through British territory, from 

 that lake to the Ked Eiver Settlements, and ultimately to the 

 great tracts of cultivable land beyond them. With this view 

 the following suggestions are offered for your guidance, so far as 

 you will find them practicable, and supported by the topography. 



" In the first place, after being landed at Fort William, to pro- 

 ceed by the present Hudson's Bay canoe route — by the Kami- 

 nistiquia River, Dog Lake, Lake of the Thousand Islands, &c, 

 to Lac La Croix, and thence by Eainy Lake, Lake of the Woods, 

 Winnipeg River to Lake Winnipeg, and up the Red River to 

 Fort Garry. 



" From Rainy Lake to Lake Winnipeg, the route as at present 

 affords a good navigation for boats of considerable size, .with the 

 interruption however of some short portages; but from Rainy 

 Lake eastward to Lake Superior, the route is very much inter- 

 rupted, and rendered laborious, tedious and expensive, by the 

 great number of portages, some of considerable length, which 

 have to be encountered to avoid the falls and rapids in the 

 ravines and creeks which this route follows. 



ce For the establishment of a suitable communication for the 

 important objects aimed at, it is 'believed that the construction 

 of a road throughout, from some point on Lake Superior, prob- 

 ably either at Fort William, or at or near the mouth of the Pigeon 

 River to Rainy Lake, must be undertaken. To ascertain, there- 

 fore, at present, by general exploration, what the route for this 

 road should be, whether in the vicinity of the Hudson's Bay 

 route, or by the line of country in which lies the chain of waters 

 from Rainy Lake to the mouth of Pigeon River ; this question 

 can obviously be only satisfactorily determined by the difficult 

 portions of both being tested instrumentally, but in either case, 

 as the construction of such road would be a matter of time and 

 much expense, it is considered necessary that the portages, &c, 



{ . 31 



