THE PIGEON RIVER ROUTE. 



275 



We arrived at the Grand Portage on the 5th of May and 

 immediately made preparations for crossing the Portage. 

 I found it necessary to engage three more voyageurs to 

 man a third canoe which the large quantity of baggage 

 rendered necessary ; these were Wigwam, an Ojibway half- 

 breed ; Charles Louis, a French Canadian, and Francois 

 Chabot, also of French Canadian origin. 



We started from the west end of the Grand Portage on 

 the 9th May, reached Fort Frances on the 24th, and the 

 mouth of the Winnipeg on the 29th.* 



We camped off the mouth of Bed Eiver seven days after 

 leaving Fort Frances, and might easily have reached the 

 settlements on the first day of June, but in view of our 

 rapid voyage from Eainy Lake, and being in advance of 

 Sir George Simpson, I did not think it necessary to press 

 the guide, we therefore waited for a few hours at Fort 

 Alexander, and enjoyed the hospitality of Mr. Sinclair, the 

 gentleman in charge. 



The exact time the expedition spent in canoes between 

 Lake Superior and Eed Eiver, after deducting the delays 

 at the forts before mentioned, was twenty-one days and 

 six hours, as opposed to twenty-seven days and six hours 

 by the Kaministiquia route the year before. The average 

 daily progress was twenty-eight and a half miles against 

 twenty-five miles in 1857. 



On my arrival at the Middle Settlement, where Mr. 

 Dawson and his party had their quarters, I found Mr. Eussell 

 in charge of the house and effects, Mr. Dawson with other 

 members of his party having started some days previously 

 for the Saskatchewan, whence they were not expected to 

 return until the end of June. I therefore placed Mr. 

 Eussell in possession of the canoes and men intended for 



* For an estimate of the cost of opening the Pigeon Eiver Route, see 

 Appendix, Vol. II. 



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