1908.] 



PREVIOUS EXPLORATIONS M EVOY. 



81 



locality a suitable place for wintering horses. Beyond here a trail 

 lying to the eastward of Smoky Eiver was followed for about 50 miles 

 in a general northerly course to a point near the mouth of Muskeg 

 Creek, a tributary of Smoky River, and here some collecting was done. 

 He left here about the last of September, and turning southward and 

 following a route to the eastward of his northerly course he returned 

 to Jasper House by way of Baptiste River, striking the main Edmon- 

 ton-Jasper trail some distance to the northeastward of Jasper House, 

 and arriving there about October 8. From here he went into the 

 high mountains to the westward, collecting in Caribou Basin, 15 miles 

 west of Henry House, and in another valley 10 miles farther west, 

 visited by him during the previous autumn, and named by him 

 Rodent Valley, on account of the abundance of small rodents. He 

 left here about October 18 and returned by the trail to Edmonton, 

 where he arrived early in November. Some of the results of Lor- 

 ing's work in Alberta have already appeared in various reports, 

 mainly published by the Biological Survey, but the greater part of 

 the material~collected by him is treated of for the first time in the 

 present report. 



During the summer of 1897 and the winter following, C. J. Jones, 

 better known as ' Buffalo Jones,' made a trip to the Barren Grounds 

 for the purpose of securing living musk-oxen. Reaching Great Slave 

 Lake by way of the Athabaska and Slave rivers, he proceeded to the 

 eastern end of the lake, accompanied by John Rea, a fur trader. Here, 

 on the site of Fort Reliance, they built a log house and remained 

 during the early part of the winter, making occasional short hunting 

 trips. Late in February, 1898, they started on a longer trip, accom- 

 panied by an Indian guide, who soon deserted them. After this Jones 

 and Rea traveled over a large extent of country about upper Back 

 River and eastward toward Chesterfield Inlet. They returned to their 

 cabin on April 10. Here they remained mitil the ice broke up, when 

 they traveled by boat to Fort Resolution, reaching there about the 

 middle of July. After a short stay here they descended the Mackenzie 

 to its mouth. Thence they ascended the Peel to Fort McPherson, and 

 crossing the mountains to the Porcupine, descended it and the Yukon 

 to the sea. The narrative of this trip, incorporated in ' Forty Years 

 of Adventure,' compiled from the journals of Mr. Jones by Henry 

 Inman, contains much information regarding the larger mammals of 

 the region. 



In the summer of 1898 James McEvoy, of the Canadian Geological 

 Survey, made a geological examination of the country between Ed- 

 monton and Tete Jaune Cache, in British Columbia, following the 

 trail between the two points and examining large areas of country. 

 Many notes on the fauna of the region are incorporated in his report. 



44131— No. 27—08- — 6 



