1908.] 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY GPtEAT BEAR LAKE. 



45 



, It is evident that these figures are not coniparal)le with thosii taken 

 ^in 1900 at various other points in the region. From its position 

 Fort Franklin should have a mean temperature at least as low as Fort 

 Good Hope, which, although situated a degree farther north, is at a 

 lower altitude and on the banks of a northward flowing river. The 

 temperatures of the three winter months would seem to indicate that 

 the winter of 1825-26 was exceptionally mild, and the temperatures 

 recorded bv Eicharclson as taken elsewhere in the Mackenzie region 

 during the same year seem also to point to the same conclusion. 



The following notes regarding the progress of the seasons at Fort 

 Franklin, Great Bear Lake, are taken mainly from Richardson's 

 accounts: 



The relative temperatures of December, January, and February 

 differ considerably : either of these months may be the coldest in dif- 

 ferent years. In some years snow exposed to the sun thaws very 

 slightly during these months ; in other winters there is no thaAv what- 

 ever. The snow attains its greatest depth, about 3 feet, in March. 

 By April 10 the snow begins to thaw decidedl}- in the sunshine. From 

 the 1st to the 6th of May the earlier waterfowl arrive. The smaller 

 streams break up about the 10th or 12th of May. Between the mid- 

 dle and the end of ]\Iay most of the small birds arrive. At the end 

 . of May or early in June the earlier shrubs and herbaceous plants 

 flower and sprout their leaves. Frogs are heard at the same time. 

 By the last week of Ma}" there is bright light at midnight. Xo 

 snow, excepting the remains of deep drifts, is left. On June 8 (1826) 

 the small lake was clear of ice. having been frozen for two hundred 

 and forty days. By the middle of June summer is fairly established. 

 Great Bear Lake begins to break up about June 20, and drift ice 

 sometimes obstructs navigation until the first or second week in 

 August. By the 25th of July blueberries {Vaccinium iiliginosum) 

 nre ripe. At the beginning of August stars are visible at midnight. 

 By the last of August or first of September snow falls. Severe frosts 

 set in b}^ the last of September. In October, when the soil begins to 

 freeze, the summer thaw has penetrated about 21 inches, beneath 

 which the ground is perpetually frozen. The small lakes are frozen 

 over by the 10th or 12th of October, and the last of the waterfowl 

 depart. The bays of Great Bear Lake are filled with new ice by the 

 end of October or early in Xovember, but the center of the lake does 

 not freeze over until December. The ice attains a thickness of about 

 8 feet. 



Bear River opens at its head early in May, the result (according to 

 Richardson) of its being fed by warm water from the depths of the 

 lake. Probably from the same cause the lake remains open at the 



