Lake Athabasca

Even the lakes of Central Africa cannot compare with our own Great Lakes and the other smaller lakes which belong to the same series.

These additional lakes begin in the far north with Great Bear Lake and continue through Great Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca, and Lake Winnipeg to the Lake of the Woods not far from Lake Superior.

All these lakes lie on the edge of the great Laurentian Shield where the ice, crowding down from the highland to the north and east, was compressed into certain already existent hollows which it widened and deepened and left as vast bowls ready to be filled with lakes.

South and southwest of the Laurentian Highland, the great ice sheet proved beneficial to man.

Former wandering had made me familiar with the methods of travel pursued in these countries by the Indian tribes or far-scattered fur hunters.

Fortunate in recovering possession of an old and long-tried Eskimo dog, the companion of earlier travel, I started in the autumn of 1872 from the Red River of the North, and reaching Lake Athabasca, completed half my journey by the first week of March in the following year.

From Athabasca I followed the many winding channel of the frozen Peace River to its great canyon in the Rocky Mountains, and, journeying through this pass, for many reasons the most remarkable one in the whole range of the Rocky Mountains, reached the north of British Columbia in the end of May.

From thence, following a trail of 350 miles through the dense forests of New Caledonia, I emerged on the 3rd of June at the frontier station of Quesnel on the Fraser River, still 400 miles north of Victoria.

In the ensuing pages the story of that long tramp, for it was mostly performed on foot, will be duly set forth.

To rest, unless some prowling wolf should keep thee watchful still, while lonely through the midnight sounds his wail upon the hill.

And when the storm raves round, and thick and blinding snow comes whirling in wild eddies around, above, below, still all unmoved thou'lt keep thy pace as manfully as when thy matchless mettle first I tried in lone Pasquia's glen.

Thus day by day we'll pierce the wilds where rolls the Arctic stream, where Athabasca's silent lakes through whispered pine trees gleam, until where far Onchaga's flood by giant cliffs is crowned, thy bells will feed the echoes long hungering for a sound.

Former wandering had made me familiar with the methods of travel pursued in these countries by the Indian tribes or far-scattered fur hunters.

Fortunate in recovering possession of an old and long-tried Eskimo dog, the companion of earlier travel, I started in the autumn of eighteen seventy-two from the Red River of the North, and reaching Lake Athabasca, completed half my journey by the first week of March in the following year.

From Athabasca, I followed the many winding channel of the frozen Peace River to its great canyon in the Rocky Mountains, and journeying through this pass, for many reasons the most remarkable one in the whole range of the Rocky Mountains, reached the north of British Columbia in the end of May.

From thence, following a trail of three hundred and fifty miles through the dense forests of New Caledonia, I emerged on the third of June at the frontier station of Quesnel on the Fraser River, still four hundred miles north of Victoria.

In the ensuing pages, the story of that long tramp, for it was mostly performed on foot, will be duly set forth.

To rest, unless some prowling wolf should keep thee watchful still, while lonely through the midnight sounds his wail upon the hill.

And when the storm raves round, and thick and blinding snow Comes whirling in wild eddies around, above, below, Still all unmoved thou'll keep thy pace as manfully as when Thy matchless mettle first I tried in lone Pasquia's glen.

Thus day by day we'll pierce the wilds where rolls the Arctic stream, Where Athabasca's silent lakes through whispered pine-trees gleam, Until where far Ungchaga's flood by giant cliffs is crowned, Thy bells will feed the echoes long hungering for a sound.

From southern Minnesota to southern Manitoba, 16 species maintain an average speed of about 40 miles per day.

From that point to Lake Athabasca, 12 species travel at an average speed of 72 miles per day, while 5 others travel to Great Slave Lake at 116 miles per day, and another 5 species cover 150 miles per day to reach Alaska.

This change corresponds to variation in the isothermal lines, which turn northwestward west of the Great Lakes.

As has been previously indicated, the advance of spring in the northern interior is much more rapid than in the Mississippi Valley and on the Gulf Coast.

And then after that, I made my way out west.

A friend of mine had gone to Lake Athabasca and was working at a camp there.

So I took the opportunity, went up there, learned the lake very quick and was out guiding for lake trout, grayling, pike.

And that was quite an experience.

Yeah.

But Athabasca is well known.

That's some of the biggest late trout in Canada, right? Come out of Lake Athabasca.

Yeah.