190S.] 



EOUTES TRAVERSED ALBERTA. 



93 



exact site is not known, and has probably disappeared as a result of 

 successive cavings of the river bank. The Athabaska enters the lake 

 through several mouths, one of which is called the Embarras. from 

 having its channel choked by driftwood, a common circumstance in 

 these deltas. Emerging from the river the traveler sees several rocky 

 islands to the northwest, and behind them, stretching out along 

 the rocky shore, the whitewashed buildings of Fort Chipewyan meet 

 the eye. 



Fort Chipewyan (PI. lY, fig. 1) is built on the borders of a 

 rounded shallow bay near the outlet of Athabaska Lake. It is 

 the largest establishment in the region north of Athabaska Landing, 

 and has a more or less permanent population of between 200 and 300. 

 The buildings are arranged in a broken line about a mile in length 

 near the shore. Sandy beaches form the margin of the bay in places, 

 but usually mossy Archaean rocks compose the immediate shores. On 

 the highest jDoint, at the eastern end of the line, stands the stockaded 

 group of buildings of the Hudson's Bay Company, and beyond, 

 stretching in single file to the westward, is a line of dwelling houses 

 and the English church. Farther still are the church, school and 

 other buildings of the Catholic Mission, and the establishments of 

 several private traders. Back of the village, rocky, rounded hills, 

 sj)arsely wooded, rise to a height of a few hundred fe^t, with mossy 

 swamj^s in their valleys. The shore of the lake to the northwest- 

 ward is mainly higher, and within a few miles high precipitous 

 cliffs rise directly from the water. In late May the turfs^ slopes are 

 bright with the flowers of the purple anemone {Pulsatilla)^ serv- 

 iceberry {Amelancliier). Potentilla nivea, Rihes, Antennaina^ vio- 

 lets, and many others, the number of species increasing rapidly as the 

 season advances. The population is supported largely by the excel- 

 lent fisheries in the vicinity, but considerable gardening is done in 

 the village, and large crops of potatoes are raised on one of the large 

 islands near by. 



This part of the lake originally covered a much greater area, ex- 

 tending for many miles to the westward of its present confines, 

 though its shape has not changed to any great extent during historic 

 times. AVithin the bounds of its ancient basin. Lakes Claire and 

 Mammawee. the former upward of 35 miles in length, still exist, their 

 marshy margins slowly contracting and threatening to terminate 



south side of the lake, lying in a direction S. 20° W., and that the three in- 

 habitants were killed by Chippewyan Indians. At the same time the North- 

 west Company had a post on a point on the north shore a short distance far- 

 ther east, but after the murder of the Hudson's Bay Company's men, they 

 moved across to the point on the south shore. The place was afterwards aban- 

 doned until 1845, when Mercredi arrived and built the present post." (Ann. 

 Rept. Can. Geol. Surv., YIII, p. 62D, 1896.) 



