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T H E A T H A B A S C A R I V E R R E G I ON 129
little ash or clinker. These coal beds seem to extend i n all
directions, on both sides of the river, and underlie a very
large extent of country. The inland country for some eight
or ten miles had been examined by Sergeant Anderson, of
the Mounted Police post here, who described it as consisti
n g of wide ridges, or tables, of first- rate soil, divided by
shallow muskegs; a good farming locality, with abundance
of large, merchantable spruce timber. Moose were plentiful
i n the region, and it was a capital one for marten, one white
trapper, the winter before our visit, having secured over a
hundred skins.
On the 25th we left our comfortable spruce beds and
" long fires," and tracked on to House River, which we
reached at nine a. m. Here there is a low- lying, desolate-looking,
but memorable, " P o i n t , " neighboured by a concave
sweep of bank. The House is a small tributary from the
east, but very long, rising far inland; and here begins the
pack- trail to Fort McMurray, about one hundred miles in
length, and which might easily be converted into a waggon-road,
as also another which runs to Lac la Biche. Both
trails run through a good farming country, and the former
waggon- road would avoid all the dangers and laborious
rapids whose wearisome ascent has been described.
The Point itself is tragic ground, showing now but a few
deserted cabins and some Indian graves— one of which had
a white paling around it, the others being covered with gray
cotton— which looked like little tents i n the distance. These
were the graves of an Indian and his wife and four children,
who had pitched through from Lac la Biche to hunt, and
who a l l died together of diphtheria i n this lonely spot. But
here, too, many years ago, a priest was murdered and eaten
by a weeghteko, an Iroquois from Caughnawaga. The
lunatic afterwards took an Indian girl into the depths of
the forest, and, after cohabiting with her for some time,
k i l l e d and devoured her. Upon the fact becoming known,
and being pursued by her tribe, he fled to the scene of his
I
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| Title | Page 148 |
| OCR | T H E A T H A B A S C A R I V E R R E G I ON 129 little ash or clinker. These coal beds seem to extend i n all directions, on both sides of the river, and underlie a very large extent of country. The inland country for some eight or ten miles had been examined by Sergeant Anderson, of the Mounted Police post here, who described it as consisti n g of wide ridges, or tables, of first- rate soil, divided by shallow muskegs; a good farming locality, with abundance of large, merchantable spruce timber. Moose were plentiful i n the region, and it was a capital one for marten, one white trapper, the winter before our visit, having secured over a hundred skins. On the 25th we left our comfortable spruce beds and " long fires," and tracked on to House River, which we reached at nine a. m. Here there is a low- lying, desolate-looking, but memorable, " P o i n t , " neighboured by a concave sweep of bank. The House is a small tributary from the east, but very long, rising far inland; and here begins the pack- trail to Fort McMurray, about one hundred miles in length, and which might easily be converted into a waggon-road, as also another which runs to Lac la Biche. Both trails run through a good farming country, and the former waggon- road would avoid all the dangers and laborious rapids whose wearisome ascent has been described. The Point itself is tragic ground, showing now but a few deserted cabins and some Indian graves— one of which had a white paling around it, the others being covered with gray cotton— which looked like little tents i n the distance. These were the graves of an Indian and his wife and four children, who had pitched through from Lac la Biche to hunt, and who a l l died together of diphtheria i n this lonely spot. But here, too, many years ago, a priest was murdered and eaten by a weeghteko, an Iroquois from Caughnawaga. The lunatic afterwards took an Indian girl into the depths of the forest, and, after cohabiting with her for some time, k i l l e d and devoured her. Upon the fact becoming known, and being pursued by her tribe, he fled to the scene of his I |
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