highly regarded Brazilian twist tobacco: Sleeper-Smith, Rethinking the Fur Trade, 315.
“the Detroit trade has been very bad”: Innis, Fur Trade in Canada, 187.
It was early June 1785: As published in Roderic Mackenzie’s “Reminiscences” portion of Masson, Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, 7.
750 gallons of rum: Innis, Fur Trade in Canada, 253.
“six hundred weight of biscuit”: Most historians now credit Roderic with much of “A General History of the Fur Trade” that opens Alexander Mackenzie’s Voyages. Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 33.
whoops of the Iroquois and Algonquin: Podruchny, Making the Voyageur World, 170.
Roderic thought he ought to as well: Masson, Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, 7.
“over cragged, excavated rocks”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 86.
Eight of the men: Newman, Caesars of the Wilderness, 37.
a canot de maître could make four miles an hour: Morse, Fur Trade Canoe Routes of Canada, 56.
“Quand un chrétien se détermine”: Nute, Voyageur, 153.
“In less than half an hour”: Masson, Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, 9.
CHAPTER 7: INTO THE PAYS D’EN HAUT
People tend to save wedding dresses: Conversation with Shawn Patterson, collections manager at Fort William Historical Park.
“In several parts there are guts”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 91.
“Everyone must believe in something”: MacGregor, Canoe Country, 8.
CHAPTER 8: TO GRAND PORTAGE AND THE ENGLISH RIVER
“If I had not kept my face”: Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World, 402–403.
“the Westernmost military position”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 92.
an attempt to latinize the Ojibwa name: Huck et al., Exploring the Fur Trade Routes of North America, 108.
“most beautiful that is known”: Skinner, Upper Country, 55.
Marquette died on the eastern shore: Donnelly, Jacques Marquette, 265.
his grave lost: The grave was eventually rediscovered in 1877, though the Pere Marquette museum burned down in 2000. Marquette Mission Park, accessed June 27, 2017, www.museumofojibwaculture.net.
“should have been contented”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 67.
The Americans promised only: Ibid., 92.
Roderic’s brigade was in a hurry: Masson, Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, 10.
“one half of the year starving”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 93.
“the largest and most magnificent body”: Ibid., 95. Mackenzie is right, if surface area is counted, and the Caspian is considered oceanic. In volume, though, Superior is third largest, behind Lake Baikal in Russia and Lake Tanganyika in Africa.
a temporary city the size of Detroit: Newman, Caesars of the Wilderness, 3.
“I often made the comptoir”: Masson, Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, 11.
“generally contrived to squander”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 66.
two dozen or so total bourgeois: Davidson, North West Company, 14.
Pangman was from New Jersey: Chapin, Freshwater Passages, 142.
dozens of traders with twenty-five canoes: Innis, Fur Trade in Canada, 253.
Roderic would stay behind: Davidson, North West Company, 47.
Mackenzie paid each man: This section, on Mackenzie’s journey to Île-à-la-Crosse, can be found in Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 97–126.
six miles an hour: Podruchny, Making the Voyageur World, 100.
Twenty-nine total portages: Morse, Fur Trade Canoe Routes of Canada, 77.
apostles had appeared: Podruchny, Making the Voyageur World, 81.
largest landholding private enterprise: Morton, Short History of Canada, 75.
eat eight pounds of meat: Podruchny, Making the Voyageur World, 38.
“a little time reconciles”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 152.
Every waterway was full: Olson, Lonely Land, 206.
They were made in the distant past: Morse, Fur Trade Canoe Routes of Canada, 31.
“live hard, lie hard, sleep hard, eat dogs”: Nute, Voyageur, 100.
clubbed them to death: Sleeper-Smith, Rethinking the Fur Trade, 19.
“They seem to be entirely unacquainted”: Hearne, Journey to the Northern Ocean, 205.
Indian culture considered: Sleeper-Smith, Rethinking the Fur Trade, 84.
“a very excellent tendency”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 68.
“a dose of laudanum”: Ibid., 74.
The voyageurs gratefully married: Van Kirk, Many Tender Ties, 27.
On the night of the wedding: Podruchny, Making the Voyageur World, 217.
“it requires much less time”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 65.
Indian elders told Mackenzie: Blondin, Yamoria, 20.
“tallow and dried cherries”: Nute, Voyageur, 81.
shot guns in the air: Podruchny, Making the Voyageur World, 190.
“What conversation would an illiterate”: Ibid., 9.
He planned to lie to them: Duckworth, English River Book, 14.
this chief was known as Mistapoose: Gough, First Across the Continent, 55.
he was called Awgeenah: The single definitive overview of Awgeenah’s life is the short entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, accessed June 27, 2017, www.biographi.ca.
CHAPTER 9: MATONABBEE AND AWGEENAH
The Hudson’s Bay Company kept a Home Guard: Innis, Fur Trade in Canada, 134.
As he grew older: A basic overview of Matonabbee’s life is available at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, accessed June 27, 2017, www.biographi.ca.
“the great travelers of the known world”: Hearne, Journey to the Northern Ocean, 92.
six feet tall, copper skin, dark hair: Ibid., 229.
a map made of deerskin: Helm, “Matonabbee’s Map,” 32.
“which flows from a large lake”: Ibid., 41.
In 1713, Thanadelthur escaped: Newman, Company of Adventurers, 288–92.
No one saw him or his men: Hearne, Journey to the Northern Ocean, xiv.
He said his name was Samuel Hearne: Ibid., 48. Except where otherwise noted below, I rely on Hearne for the remainder of the chapter to tell the story of Matonabbee’s journey to the Arctic Ocean.
Hearne’s quadrant was broken: McGoogan, Ancient Mariner, 117.
Jumping Marten gained power: Blondin, Yamoria, 92.
Hearne was under his protection: Roberts, “Life and Death of Matonabbee.”
They stole the wives of all peoples: Heine, Gwichya Gwich’in Googwandak, 31.
They painted their wooden shields: Hearne, Journey to the Northern Ocean, 109, 227; Blondin, Yamoria, 122.
five thousand beaver furs: Roberts, “Life and Death of Matonabbee.”
Matonabbee himself delivered the castor gras: Ibid.
last governor of Prince of Wales Fort: After its destruction, the fort was rebuilt nearby but never regained its former importance.
hanged himself from a tree: Innis, Fur Trade in Canada, 152.
as they delivered the furs: Duckworth, English River Book, xxi.
“within a gunshot”: Masson, Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, 17.
“Try and get Rackets”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 424.
In the spring he traveled to Île-à-la-Crosse: Masson, Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, 18.
CHAPTER 10: MURDER AT THE OLD ESTABLISHMENT
Peter Pond came from Puritan stock: Chapin, Freshwater Passages, 12. Throughout this chapter, to relay the story of Peter Pond, I rely primarily on Chapin, except where noted.
“eevel sperit”: Innis, Fur Trade in Canada, 50.
“fiteing” and “dansing”: Podruchny, Making the Voyageur World, 166.
The French surrendered: Gough, Elusive Mr. Po
nd, 29.
diverted as they were to the revolution: Innis, Fur Trade in Canada, 180.
“where there are reeds”: Gough, Elusive Mr. Pond, 93.
Waden had come to New France as a soldier: Ibid., 111.
“Ah, mon ami, I am dead”: Ibid., 114.
the Yankee considered his proprietary territory: Duckworth, English River Book, xv.
“cutt the Beaver Indian on the head”: Beaver Indians, part of the Dene First Nation, now use their traditional name of Dane-Zaa.
Peche fled into the wilderness: According to contemporary reports, Peche lived with the Chipewyan for three years, to avoid the gallows. Gough, Elusive Mr. Pond, 138. The two other voyageurs implicated in the murder would stand trial in Montreal, but they were acquitted. Chapin, Freshwater Passages, 270.
Alexander Mackenzie had forgotten his shirt: The story of Mackenzie’s journey to the Old Establishment is told through his journal and letters to Roderic. Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 127–31, 425–30.
some said Pond gave the order: Chapin, Freshwater Passages, 263.
“the famous Lesieur”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 423.
Leroux had worked as a clerk: Innis, Fur Trade in Canada, 199.
drawn a map of the whole territory: Chapin, Freshwater Passages, 232, 287.
CHAPTER 11: TO THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE
John Harrison to develop a series of chronometers: That story is told in Sobel’s fascinating Longitude.
“If I have failed in discovering”: Williams, Voyages of Delusion, 286. Note that Antarctica does, of course, exist, and Cook barely missed it, turned away by ice.
“a very extensive inland communication”: Ibid., 362.
“A fine spacious river”: Ibid., 318.
Sailors of the day generally: Sides, In the Kingdom of Ice, 44.
“I must confess I have little hopes”: Horwitz, Blue Latitudes, 349.
In 1783, John Ledyard: According to Gifford in his book Ledyard, the man was America’s “first explorer.” I think we’ve already proven otherwise.
To boast its accuracy: Davidson, North West Company, 45.
decorated by a wall-sized tapestry: The tapestry still hangs in the Château Ramezay in Montreal.
an easy three-day journey: Chapin, Freshwater Passages, 241.
“between the latitudes of 55 and 65”: Ibid., 244.
in 1749 the British Parliament chastised them: Gough, Elusive Mr. Pond, 127.
“seem to be scarcely less savage”: Ibid., 127.
“So far Pond”: Chapin, Freshwater Passages, 279.
in early December 1787: Gough, First Across the Continent, 74. Almost alone among historians, Gough believes that Alexander took a Cree à la façon du pays wife named “the Catt” while he was at Île-à-la-Crosse. While the paper evidence is thin and circumstantial, it does help explain why he was constantly returning to the post.
slept outside on pine boughs: Podruchny, Making the Voyageur World, 241–45.
old northmen voyageurs told him: Nute, Voyageur, 99.
“lay himself down on the ice”: Chalmers, Land of Peter Pond, 46.
“Write me the first opportunity”: All correspondence between Roderic and Alexander in this section is from Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 430–34.
“incomprehensively extravagant”: Chapin, Freshwater Passages, 288.
“quite surprised at the wild ideas”: Masson, Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, 25.
“contrary to the mutual interest”: Gough, Elusive Mr. Pond, 141.
took four hundred pièces: Chapin, Freshwater Passages, 289.
a new warehouse at Rainy Lake: Innis, Fur Trade in Canada, 230.
“extremely anxious and uncertain”: Roderic’s memories of this overall exchange are in Masson, Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, 25–27.
“I lost two men and eleven pieces”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 436.
“which appeared in the shape of a person”: Masson, Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, 27.
“no mittens can be used”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 436.
glass in the windows: Conversation with Shawn Patterson, collections manager at Fort William Historical Park.
“the Athens of the North”: Gough, First Across the Continent, 76.
CHAPTER 12: ALL IT TAKES IS TIME
“perforated with no fewer than twenty-four holes”: Crane, Clear Waters Rising, 21.
CHAPTER 13: EMBARKATION
“in ancient times their ancestors”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 150.
prowess was measured by geography: Podruchny, Making the Voyageur World, 70.
Barrieau and de Lorme were former New Concern men: Admittedly, this is an educated guess. Neither is listed in The English River Book as an employee of the North West Company in 1786. Both were experienced enough to be in Athabasca in 1789, Barrieau for several seasons before. Because most posts, after the merger of New Concern and NWC, were an amalgam of both firms, it is reasonable to say both men were unrecorded New Concern paddlers.
They were also cousins from Acadia: Much more of their genealogy is covered in Ferland’s Cadiens et voyageurs.
He enlisted at age eighteen: Steinbruck, Yellowknife Journal, 5.
he used his new salary to buy beads: Duckworth, English River Book, xxviii.
Leroux had just snowshoed: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 438.
Several years before: Davidson, North West Company, 50.
“a proper assortment of the articles”: Unless otherwise noted, the narrative of Mackenzie’s trip in this chapter is primarily drawn from Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 164–66.
half-inch ball ammo in their mouths: Newman, Company of Adventurers, 263.
dressed in deerskins: Gough, Elusive Mr. Pond, 99.
nine feet of black ash: Conversation with Shawn Patterson, collections manager at Fort William Historical Park; Morse, Fur Trade Canoe Routes of Canada, 21.
“I do not posses the science”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 58.
“Should I not be back in time”: Ibid., 437–38.
“without even the quickening flavor of salt”: Ibid., 130.
“Star Levé”: Newman, Caesars of the Wilderness, 39.
The voyageurs sang a lament: Podruchny, Making of the Voyageur World, 132.
“Quand tu seras dans ces rapids”: Nute, Voyageur, 44–45.
The boats floundered: It is actually the infamous John Franklin who relates this story, after his 1820 trip down the Slave River. Chapin, Freshwater Passages, 251–52.
Brisbois. Derry. Landrieffe: Duckworth notes that this is only a guess, but a very educated one, from process of elimination. Duckworth, English River Book, xxxvii.
CHAPTER 14: THE RAPIDS OF THE SLAVE
Fort Smith Paddling Club: Fort Smith Paddling Club, accessed June 28, 2017, fskayak.webs.com.
CHAPTER 15: SHOOT THE MESSENGER
“Had a Head wind for most of the Day”: Unless otherwise noted, the narrative of Mackenzie’s trip in this chapter is primarily drawn from Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 166–77.
almost twenty years before: Hearne, Journey to the Northern Ocean, 185.
All of the animals got on a raft: Abel, Drum Songs, 8.
a rough mattress on the frozen ground: Nute, Voyageur, 51, 56.
The Chipewyan hunters said not to stretch two nets: Newman, Company of Adventurers, 339.
stuffed moss around the bottom of the tent: Blondin, Yamoria, 207.
“C’est un maudit, chrisse”: Garreau, Nine Nations of North America, 389.
so much fat would make them weak: Blondin, Yamoria, 158.
The voyageurs mumbled: Nute, Voyageur, 61.
“blow, blow, old woman”: Ibid., 26.
domes covered in caribou hides: Abel, Drum Songs, 33.
Sat in the Same Place: Helm, People of Denendeh, 286–89; Petitot, Book of Dene, 13.
<
br /> Their father was a Frenchman: Note that in some versions of the story, it is Peter Pond who visits first, not Mackenzie or Grant. Overvold, Portrayal of Our Metis Heritage, 101; Petitot, Book of Dene, 15–16.
spoke all the languages of their people: Chapin, Freshwater Passages, 253; Abel, Drum Songs, 86.
Pale Men who lived in the beaver homes: Helm, People of Denendeh, 247–49.
anything else was taboo: Abel, Drum Songs, 40.
CHAPTER 16: THUNDERSTORMS AND RAIDS
“This is Corporal Shoeman”: For the sake of her privacy, I have changed her name for publication.
“I suppose they think provision”: Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 207.
“Such sights as this”: Sevareid, Canoeing with the Cree, 145.
CHAPTER 17: INTO THE MOUNTAINS
“a fine Calm”: Unless otherwise noted, the narrative of Mackenzie’s trip in this chapter is primarily drawn from Lamb, Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 178–81.
a German writing in phonetic French: Evidence of his innovative spellings can be found in Steinbruck’s Yellowknife Journal.
“the River of the mountain”: Now known as the Liard River.
CHAPTER 18: THE PLAGUES OF THE DEH CHO
Burg explored the valley: Welch, Last Voyageur, 100.
“Each bite of bacon”: Burg, “On Mackenzie’s Trail to the Polar Sea,” 130.
“Three centuries ago”: Macfarlane, Mountains of the Mind, 14.
“majestic novelties”: Poe, Journal of Julius Rodman, 16.
“beyond the extreme”: Ibid., 105.
“urged solely by a desire”: Ibid., 13.
“These mountains were a storm center”: Burg, “On Mackenzie’s Trail to the Polar Sea,” 143.
The magnetic north pole moves: NOAA provides maps that track the historical changes. NOAA, accessed June 28, 2017, ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov.
Disappointment River Page 37
