472 



ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



prevent the boat from being dashed to pieces among the 

 rocks. 



Small brigades, feebly manned, often hanl their boats 

 over the portage. The portage road bears evidence of 

 this, as it is deeply scored and furrowed by the keels of 

 boats from beginning to end. 



The boats used by the Hudson's Bay Company are 

 built at the principal posts of the various districts. They 

 are heavy, and strongly built, but last only about three 

 years, having to undergo such severe strains and hard 

 usage in the rapids and on the portages on the routes 

 followed. They are of the whale-boat build, about thirty 

 feet long and six broad, sharp fore and aft, with flat 

 floors, which make them very leewardly. 



Although the Grand Eapid is the most serious obstacle 

 that the Company's boats have to encounter, it is not the 

 only difficulty they meet with on the Saskatchewan. The 

 whole ascent of the river is one of labour and fatigue. The 

 current is so swift — as the name of the river is well 

 known to imply — that the voyageurs would track nearly 

 all the way to the Eocky Mountains, if the banks of the 

 river would allow ; but where the river passes through 

 marshes and swamps, they have no alternative but to pull 

 against the current, however strong it may happen to be. 



Before finally determining upon any works or measures 

 for overcoming the Grand Eapid, in order to render the 

 whole of the Saskatchewan navigable for steam vessels 

 from Lake Winnipeg, without interruption ; it would be 

 necessary to make a more extensive and elaborate survey ; 

 but probably sufficient information and data have been 

 acquired during this reconnaissance from which schemes 

 might be devised, and suggestions offered, for surmounting 

 the difficulty. To navigate the Saskatchewan at present, 

 a steamer would evidently have either to be built above 



